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.
