Religious references removed from public school presentations in Missouri (December 19, 2019)

District administrators in Willard Public Schools have taken corrective action to ensure that inappropriate religious references will not occur in presentations in their classes.

A district parent reported that Willard High Schoolā€™s choir director invited a former student to talk to his class and then posted on social media about how the guest had spoken about ā€œfollowing Godā€™s plan.ā€

FFRF Attorney Chris Line wrote to the schoolā€™s attorney pointing out the constitutional issues with allowing an outside adult access to impressionable public school students to preach to about ā€œGodā€™s plan.ā€ The attorney informs FFRF that the superintendent and the principal reviewed the issue and discussed the inappropriateness with the choir teacher. The teacher was ā€œdirected to refrain from similar presentations in the futureā€ and he ā€œreadily agreed.ā€ The social media post has since been removed.

Freedom From Religion Foundation