Prayer has been permanently discontinued at a Licking, Mo., district’s staff meetings after FFRF Staff Attorney Chris Line pointed out the constitutional issues with such district-sponsored religious messaging.

A district staff member reported that the district held a staff meeting at Licking High School at which one pastor in attendance was asked to stand in front of the school staff and give a Christian prayer. The school superintendent provided the pastor with a microphone and the pastor requested that staff bow their heads before reciting a prayer. Once the prayer was complete, the superintendent spoke to the staff about the role local pastors played in providing vacation bible school for district students to attend.

The district’s attorney sent a response to inform FFRF that the prayer offered at the beginning of the meeting has been “permanently discontinued.”