Kansas —
Due to FFRF’s advocacy, Riverton USD 404, a Riverton, Kan., school district, is taking steps to ensure that students will not be performing inherently religious stories.
A concerned community religious leader reported that Riverton Elementary School’s Dec. 18, 2025, school-sponsored Christmas concert ended in a nativity scene play and an administrator-led prayer. Fifth-grade students were dressed up as biblical characters and performed a “traditional Christian Nativity scene” as part of the school’s concert. The scene depicted the biblical story of Jesus’ birth from the New Testament, an undeniably religious story. After the scene, the school’s principal “asked parents, students and all there to join him in prayer,” according to the community member. They further explained, “I’m a believer in religious freedom. I am a religious leader in the community, but I do not think public government-funded schools are the appropriate place to hold prayer and perform a representation of a religious story.
FFRF agreed, and wrote to the district to uphold the separation of state-sponsored educational events from religious beliefs.
“Additionally, [the principal] allegedly led students and everyone else present in a prayer while acting in his official capacity as a school administrator,” FFRF Staff Attorney Sammi Lawrence wrote. “The prayer and nativity play both violated students’ First Amendment right to be free from coercive government-sponsored prayer and religious indoctrination while participating in their public school’s music program.”
After FFRF’s letter, Superintendent Kevin Cooper responded via email. While Cooper alleged that there was not a prayer led by the principal, he did confirm that certain portions of the district’s programming were going to be evaluated to more closely adhere to the Constitution. “There are aspects of the program that will definitely require us to take a look and make adjustments as we move forward in programs,” Cooper wrote.
