District to no longer teach religious song (January 10, 2022)

Children at a Texas elementary school are no longer being proselytized by their music teacher after FFRF intervened.

A parent had reported that a music teacher at Frostwood Elementary in Spring Branch ISD taught a religious prayer song in sign language to first-grade students. The parentā€™s child signed and sung a prayer before dinner after which our complainant learned that she was taught the prayer at school by the schoolā€™s music teacher.

FFRF let Superintendent Jennifer Blaine know that ā€œThank You For The World So Sweetā€ is an incontrovertible prayer.

FFRF Attorney Chris Line wrote in a letter to the school district that ā€œNo public school employee may urge religious points of view on students.ā€

General counsel for the school district responded to Line by saying ā€œThough the song is in a state-approved textbook, the textbook is outdated (from 2006), so the teacher agreed to discontinue the use of the outdated textbook.ā€

Freedom From Religion Foundation