Pursuant to a Freedom From Religion Foundation complaint, Decatur City Schools in Alabama will ensure that students are not required to recite prayers in the future.
During a grandparents’ day event on Sept. 11 at Walter Jackson Elementary, a kindergarten teacher led students in the prayer, “Thank You for the World So Sweet,” in front of their assembled guests. The students had been taught the prayer with hand movements to accompany each line.
Staff Attorney Sam Grover wrote Superintendent Ed Nichols on Oct. 29, pointing out that not only have the courts struck down prayers in school, but one court even specifically struck down “Thank You for the World So Sweet” even after the school removed the words “God” and “Amen” from the prayer.
William E. Shinn, Jr., attorney for the school district, admitted that FFRF’s account of the prayer was “substantially correct.” Shinn said the district would “start by providing principals additional education on constitutional restrictions relating to school prayer,” and that the principals would be directed to make a similar presentation to staff members.
A long legal challenge by FFRF Life Member Carole Beaton paid off in November as the City Council in Eureka, Calif., voted unanimously to eliminate prayers to start its meetings as of Jan. 1. Attorney Peter Martin filed a lawsuit in January 2013 on Beaton’s behalf to get the council to stop praying and to stop Mayor Frank Jager from using his position and city resources to promote his annual Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast.
City officials wouldn’t say if the change was due to the suit. “I don’t think the city wants to give us the satisfaction of having been right on this one,” Martin told the Eureka Times-Standard on Nov. 20.
The city agreed to a September 2014 settlement that barred use of its resources, city seal and the title of mayor to promote or support prayer breakfasts and paid the plaintiff $16,500 for attorney’s fees.
