Texas
FFRF brought home a state/church victory from Mission, Texas, after the Sharyland ISD platformed Christian prayers at the 2023 commencement.
FFRF learned that in 2023, commencement ceremonies for Sharyland Advanced Academic Academy, Sharyland High School and Sharyland Pioneer High School each included student-led Christian invocations per their official programs for each ceremony. Further, all three schools failed to provide a disclaimer either during the ceremony or on the ceremony program stating that the views of student speakers were not endorsed or promoted by the district.
Finally, per the commencement program, Sharyland Advanced Academic Academy’s commencement ceremony took place at Palm Valley Church. However, both Sharyland High School and Sharyland Pioneer High School appear to have held their graduation ceremonies at the Bert Ogden Area, suggesting that Sharyland Advanced Academic Academy could have chosen to host its commencement ceremony at a secular venue as opposed to using the church.
“By scheduling prayers at their graduation ceremonies and holding the ceremony in a church, these three high schools, and thus the district, abridge that duty and needlessly exclude students who are a part of the 49 percent of Generation Z who are religiously unaffiliated,” FFRF Staff Attorney Sammi Lawrence wrote to the district in September 2023.
FFRF stayed persistent and contacted the district again this past September, which finally prompted a response on Oct. 7. Ivan F. Perez, the district’s legal counsel, wrote back to inform FFRF that action had been taken.
“The district received your correspondence last school year and educated its staff with regard to the law,” Perez wrote, additionally stating that FFRF was welcome to reach back out if it believed that the district had once again pushed religion at graduation.
