Unconstitutional tie-up in preschool ends
An unconstitutional tie-up between a Wisconsin school district and a parochial preschool has been nixed following an FFRF complaint.
In Beaver Dam Unified School District, 3-year-old public school students with developmental delays were often being sent to private preschools. FFRF’s complainant, who has an eligible child, was offered only one choice: a Catholic school, St. Katharine’s, whose preschool is named God’s Little Miracles. To quote the school itself, its “program is based on the theme ‘Thank you, God.’ ”
“It is wildly inappropriate for the School District to send 3-year-old public school students to private schools for religious instruction,” FFRF Legal Fellow Ryan Jayne wrote in June to Stephen Vessey, superintendent of the Beaver Dam Unified School District.
The School District investigated the situation and told St. Katharine’s what it would have to do to comply with the law and district policy. St. Katharine’s decided to stop participating altogether in the 3K program rather than make any changes, revealing that religious instruction was its primary goal.
“After being advised of the changes that would have to be made to the 3K program, [St. Katharine Drexel] School indicated it no longer wished to provide the Early Childhood (3K) program to district students, and the district has accepted the school’s withdrawal from participating in the program,” Vessey recently replied. “Any students who were enrolled in the school’s Early Childhood program by the district for the coming school year have since been moved to a program offered at a different site.”
Elementary school bible club shut down
FFRF has caused a religious club to be disbanded at a California elementary school.
Club Monarch, an afterschool bible club, was run in part by teachers and routinely given preferential treatment at Mariposa Elementary School in Brea, Calif. The club was mentioned in the weekly newsletter and listed in the school calendar. There were posters around the school exclusively advertising the club. At a back-to-school night, the principal effusively praised and recommended the club.
FFRF reminded the school that this sort of collaboration was unconstitutional.
“It is a well-settled principle of Establishment Clause jurisprudence that public schools may not advance, prefer or promote religion,” FFRF Legal Fellow Madeline Ziegler wrote to Brea Olinda Unified School District Superintendent Brad Mason back in March.
After reviewing school records obtained through an open records request, including over 2,500 pages of emails about Club Monarch going back only two years, FFRF wrote a follow-up letter in May stating that its apprehensions had been confirmed.
FFRF has now received confirmation that its advice has been followed. “Club Monarch has ceased to operate at Mariposa Elementary School and does not operate at any other district school sites,” the school district’s legal firm has written to FFRF.
FFRF ends religious film screenings
The Christian movie “Facing the Giants” won’t be shown to Medina Middle School’s seventh-graders in the future, FFRF has ensured.
A parent of a student at the Dyer, Tenn., school brought the issue to FFRF’s attention. The film follows a struggling high school football coach who inspires his team to believe in the God and to use faith to win football games.
Showing “Facing the Giants” in a public school “promotes Christianity over all other religions and nonreligion and violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment,” FFRF Staff Attorney Rebecca Markert informed the Gibson County Special School District.
Eddie Pruett, the district’s director of schools, replied that the teacher was reminded that multimedia must be approved by the principal, and was told that “Facing the Giants” was not an appropriate movie to show the class.
FFRF gets religious group to pay fees
FFRF has made certain that a Wisconsin religious organization will pay full rental fees at local public schools.
Mission of Hope has held several events at public schools in Waupaca, Wis. Among other activities, the events include a prayer tent staffed by local church members to “pray with and for” visitors. Records that FFRF obtained revealed that the School District of Waupaca forgave Mission of Hope the $180 facility fees and $100 nonprofit kitchen use fees for past such events at the Waupaca Learning Center Elementary School.
FFRF Legal Fellow Ryan Jayne wrote earlier this month to Waupaca School District Superintendent Greg Nyen. FFRF’s complaint was taken seriously and received an appropriate response.
“I understand your concern regarding the need for separation of church and state,” wrote Nyen. “I am hereby providing you said assurance that in the future, charges for facility usage will be applied to Mission of Hope as it would any other outside organization.”
Prayer discontinued at N.D. graduations
After including multiple prayers to Jesus at its 2016 graduation ceremony, Watford City High School in North Dakota has assured FFRF that the constitutional violation will not be repeated.
“High school graduations must be secular to protect the freedom of conscience of all students,” FFRF Staff Attorney Patrick Elliot wrote to McKenzie County School District Superintendent Steven Holden. “It makes no difference how many students wouldn’t want prayer or wouldn’t be offended by prayer at their graduation ceremony. As the Supreme Court has said, ‘Fundamental rights may not be submitted to vote; they depend on the outcome of no elections.’ “
Holden responded on Aug. 2, explaining that, after consulting with the school board and school district attorney, the district would ensure prayer would not be part of future ceremonies or other school-sponsored events.
No more pastors at school bible club
A bible club at a Nevada middle school will no longer be led by pastors, thanks to FFRF. A parent of a Bob Miller Middle School student contacted FFRF after reading the club’s description in the yearbook: “Pastors come to the club every Tuesday and teach the students morals mentioned in the bible.”
“It is illegal for public schools to allow adults to lead religious instruction on school property during the school day,” wrote FFRF Legal Fellow Madeline Ziegler in a July 21 letter to the Clark County School District. The Equal Access Act forbids adult participation in student religious clubs.
General Counsel Carlos L. McDade told FFRF on Aug. 2 that administrators were “reminded that the bible club must be student-led and that the club must not be directed, conducted, controlled, or regularly attended by nonschool persons.”
Teacher instructed to stop praying
The Academy for Scholarship and Entrepreneurship in the Bronx, N.Y., will stop including teacher-led invocations in its graduation ceremonies.
The decision was prompted by a July 14 letter from FFRF Staff Attorney Rebecca Markert, who pointed out that the Supreme Court has specifically struck down prayers at public school graduations. “The district has a duty to remain neutral toward religion,” Markert wrote. “By scheduling prayers at graduation, the district abridges that duty and alienates the 35% of young Americans who are not religious.”
Carron Staple, superintendent of Bronx High School Districts 8, 9 and 11, responded that the teacher’s actions were against New York City Department of Education regulations. Staple said the prohibition had been discussed with the school’s administrative staff, who understood the invocation could not recur.
Principal won’t pray with students
Bakersfield High School Principal Connie Grumling will not pray with students in the future. Grumling had met with students to pray at the flagpole.
FFRF Staff Attorney Andrew Seidel lodged a complaint with the Kern High School District in Bakersfield, Calif., in August 2015. “Federal courts have held it is unconstitutional for public school employees to participate in the religious activities of their students,” he said. This is “to avoid any perception of government endorsement of religion.”
On Aug. 9, Seidel spoke with the district’s general counsel, who said that the prayer was an “isolated incident” that had been addressed by the administration.
FFRF downs religious signs at Florida school
The Osceola County School District is now limiting church advertising on its property.
The My Grace Fellowship Church holds its services at the Westside K-8 School, and previously was permitted to leave lawn signs promoting the services on the school’s grounds. FFRF Staff Attorney Andrew Seidel objected to this practice in a June 13. “Advancing, preferring, and promoting religion is exactly what a school does when it allows a church to prominently place a permanent advertisement for students, parents, school employees, and anyone passing by to see,” said Seidel. “[The church] must put up the signs no earlier than when the rental time begins and take them down when the rental time ends.”
An attorney for the school district reported the matter resolved on Aug. 24.
Softball coaches leave prayer circle
After receiving a letter from FFRF last year, West Virginia’s Putnam County Schools has finally instructed softball coaches at Buffalo High School to stop praying with students. A photo from the state championship game showed players, coaches and fans holding hands in a circle around the field for a post-game prayer.
“While students may engage in prayer on their own, school staff, including coaches, cannot lead, direct or participate in such religious activities,” FFRF Staff Attorney Rebecca Markert reminded the district in June 2015.
After FFRF followed up several times, the district replied on Aug. 11 that the incident was addressed by administrators and that the district was obtaining legal training on the Establishment Clause.
Elementary school graduations secularized
FFRF has put a stop to several egregious constitutional violations at a kindergarten graduation ceremony at Valley Elementary School in Pikeville, Ky.
The school’s 2016 ceremony included a teacher-led prayer and the students singing, “Jesus Loves Me,” which they had reportedly been singing in their music classes for most of the school year. “It is coercive and inappropriate for a teacher to lead a prayer at a school function, and then to order the performance of ‘Jesus Loves Me’ by the students,” wrote FFRF Staff Attorney Rebecca Markert in a June 9 letter to the Pike County Schools.
General Counsel Neal Smith wrote back to FFRF on Aug. 23, saying he “cautioned our administration that open prayer at school-sponsored events should not take place and that faculty-led singing of hymns, such as ‘Jesus Loves Me,’ should also be avoided.”
FFRF quashes Utah school board prayer
The Wasatch County Schools in Heber City, Utah, have reluctantly agreed to stop praying at School Board meetings.
Previously, meetings regularly included Mormon-style prayers delivered by the superintendent, School Board members, and other district employees. FFRF Staff Attorney Andrew Seidel wrote to Superintendent Terry Shoemaker and School Board President Mark Davis on May 3. “Federal courts have struck down school board practices that include this religious ritual,” he said, citing several cases, including FFRF’s recent victory against the Chino Valley (Calif.) Unified School District’s praying school board.
Superintendent Paul A. Sweat replied Aug. 23 that he believed the cases FFRF cited were “wrongly decided,” but said the board had stopped conducting prayer for the time being. Sweat concluded by expressing his hope that the Supreme Court would soon extend the Greece v. Galloway decision approving of some prayers at meetings of legislative bodies.
School district cuts religious presenter
Staff in the Little Rock (Ark.) School District won’t be subjected to religious lessons at staff meetings in the future.
At Mabelvale Middle School’s Aug. 9 teaching staff meeting, the school invited a Baptist pastor to give a presentation, which included retelling biblical stories and other religious remarks. FFRF Staff Attorney Patrick Elliott called out this unconstitutional presentation in an Aug. 18 letter. “By imposing religious messages on its employees at district-sponsored events, the district is violating constitutional limits on government religious endorsement,” he wrote.
Replying promptly on Aug. 23, an attorney for the school district acknowledged that part of the presentation could be perceived as an endorsement of religion, and said the superintendent would send a written notice to all district principals “to remind them not to allow presentations at mandatory teacher meetings or in-service training which endorse a particular religious position or message.”
Lunchtime religious school group disbanded
FFRF has gotten an outsider-led lunchtime religious group at an Illinois public school disbanded.
School administrators at Harrisburg Middle School were allowing a Baptist minister to lead a religious session during lunch hour. He offered free pizza and soda to students who joined the group.
It was inappropriate and unconstitutional for the district to offer religious leaders access to befriend and proselytize students during the school day on school property, FFRF stressed. No outside adults should be provided carte blanche access to minors — a captive audience — in a public school.
After waiting for months for a response, FFRF Legal Fellow Jayne sent a reminder letter, and this time Harrisburg School District Superintendent Michael Gauch responded.
“Following the school board’s directive, school administration instructed the local minister that he would no longer be allowed to come onto school property and meet with students during the lunchtime or anytime during the instructional day,” Gauch wrote.
Ohio commissioners to find secular inspiration
The Lorain County Board of Commissioners in Ohio is replacing invocations with secular quotations at its meetings after hearing from FFRF.
Christian prayers and bible readings by the commissioners were prior staples of the meetings. “It is coercive, embarrassing, and intimidating for nonreligious citizens to be required to make a public showing of their nonbelief (by not rising or praying) or else to display deference toward a religious sentiment in which they do not believe, but which their Board of Commissioners members clearly do,” FFRF Staff Attorney Rebecca Markert said in a letter to the board.
Markert explained that unlike the prayers by outside religious leaders approved by the Supreme Court in Greece v. Galloway, federal courts have struck down prayers led by commissioners themselves.
A county attorney said the board disagreed with FFRF’s position, but had decided to discontinue the prayers anyway, replacing them with a secular “quote of the day.”
FFRF ends Louisiana prayer violations
Thanks to FFRF, the Calcasieu Parish Public Schools have resolved two constitutional violations. Westlake High School will no longer broadcast prayers at football games. Vinton Elementary School will not repeat an incident that occurred on Aug. 7, when the community was invited to come to the school for prayer and a tour of the facilities.
FFRF Staff Attorney Sam Grover first wrote to the school district in September 2015 about the football prayers, receiving no response despite several follow up letters. Grover wrote again on Aug. 26 about the elementary prayer event. “Hosting a prayer event at a public school alienates non-religious students and families, as well as those who practice a minority religion,” he said. “A public school district should seek to be inclusive of all students and families, not just those in the religious majority.”
Gregory Belfour, the school’s attorney, responded just a few days later this time. He said the superintendent would communicate the “constitutional limitations” on government-sponsored prayer to the Vinton principal, and school administrators at Westlake had been advised to stop promoting prayers at football games.
Florida police prayer event canceled
The Ocoee, Fla., Police Department will no longer host a “Prayers for Police” event after FFRF sent a letter of complaint.
The department put on the event in May at a church, listing the purpose on a flier as “a period of unity as police chaplains, community leaders and members of the community join together to pray for the police profession.” The event was advertised on social media and hosted on police property. FFRF Staff Attorney Andrew Seidel notified the department that this entanglement with religion was unconstitutional. “Although we fully support remembering fallen police officers, it is OPD’s constitutional obligation to find a religiously neutral means of doing so,” said Seidel.
An Ocoee City Attorney responded on Aug. 2, saying the city would no longer host the event.
FFRF stops school’s Christian music
Students in the weight room at Tecumseh High School in Tecumseh, Mich., won’t be forced to listen to Christian music, thanks to FFRF.
FFRF received a report from a local resident that a physical education teacher played the religious music during workout sessions in the weight room during the summer. “Playing Christian music to an audience of students using the weight room is a violation of student and parental rights,” wrote FFRF Staff Attorney Rebecca Markert in a letter to the Tecumseh Public Schools superintendent. “It is illegal for a district employee to promote Christianity through religious music while acting in his or her official capacity.”
Superintendent Kelly M. Coffin thanked Markert for bringing the matter to the school district’s attention and said that the school principal reminded the teacher of “his constitutional duty to remain neutral toward religion while in a public school setting.”
