The Douglas School District in Box Elder, S.D., will no longer have unconstitutional prayer at graduation ceremonies and other school sponsored events, thanks to the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
FFRF Staff Attorney Patrick Elliott contacted the District Superintendent Loren Scheer in a May 30 letter, after a pastor was invited to give two sectarian prayers, an invocation and a benediction, at Douglas High School’s 2013 graduation ceremony. Elliott wrote that the District must remain neutral toward religion and protect the rights of minorities, such as the nonreligious. He invoked two decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court ruling prayers unconstitutional at public school graduations.
Scheer responded in a June 3 letter that the District is taking the necessary steps to make sure it does not include illegal prayers at graduations and other school events.
