First-graders in a Hondo, Texas, public elementary school will no longer be saying prayers at the direction of their teacher, said the school principal in response to a complaint from the Freedom From Religion Foundation on behalf of one of its Texas members.
The complainantsā daughter was in the first-grade class, where the teacher, Tina Mumme, asked her students to pray each day during morning announcements. When a substitute teacher was present, the students were instead told to have a moment of silence.
Hondo is about an hour west of San Antonio and has one public elementary school. In the Foundationās letter to the school, Staff Attorney Rebecca (Kratz) Markert noted that the prayerful teacher had taught in the district for 26 years and āhas never been called out for this illegal conduct.ā
Mumme was Meyer Elementaryās Teacher of the Year for 2008-09. Her bio on the schoolās Web site notes that one of her sons attends the University of the Incarnate Word, a Catholic school with its main campus in San Antonio.
āIt is well settled that a public school teacher may not lead, direct or ask her students to engage in prayer,ā the Foundationās letter said. āThe SupĀreme Court has continually struck down formal and teacher- or school-led prayer in public schools.ā
Courts have struck down prayer in public schools because itās government endorsement of religion, Markert said. āYour school district should make certain that its teachers are not unlawfully and inappropriately indoctrinating students in religious matters.ā
The Hondo Independent School Districtās official policy also prohibits staff from encouraging students to either pray or refrain from praying in school. The schoolās principal responded within a week of getting the Foundationās letter to say she had met with Mumme to remind her of the prayer prohibition. āShe understands and will follow correct policy,ā wrote Principal Ellen Schueling.
āI will be holding meeting with the teachers at each grade level to make sure all of them are in complete understanding of the policy,ā SchueĀling said.
Annie Laurie Gaylor, Foundation co-president, called the violation āegregiousā and said it was fairly shocking to get such a complaint from a parent in this day and age.
āItās been nearly 50 years since the Supreme Court moved to protect schoolchildren from government-fostered prayer,ā she said.