Several schools in the Highlands County School District in Sebring, Fla., had religious assemblies scheduled for Oct. 5 until FFRF Staff Attorney Stephanie Schmitt put a stop to it with a Sept. 7 letter of complaint to Superintendent Wally Cox.
The assemblies were to be put on by Team Impact, self-described on its website as a ministry of “seasoned evangelists preach[ing] the message of salvation by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ.” The website’s “Reach Your Schools” page says: “With a Team Impact event, your church has the ability to impact your schools with this powerful message. Very rarely do we not couple these effective school outreaches with our local church events.”
John McClure, an attorney for the school, responded Sept. 15. “Following receipt of your letter and review of the circumstances, the ‘Team Impact’ event scheduled for Oct. 5, 2011, has been canceled.” McClure later told Schmitt that the district has scheduled an assembly by Chad Varga that is “100% secular.”
