Thanks to FFRF, a South Dakota high school kept its May graduation ceremony free of religious influence.
FFRF was informed that Clark High School in Clark, S.D., scheduled prayers by a Catholic priest into its graduation ceremony. The program had included both a Catholic invocation and a benediction as portions of the ceremony.
FFRF Staff Attorney Patrick Elliott wrote to Clark School District Superintendent Luanne Warren on May 12, urging that the invocation and benediction be canceled and that all references to them be removed from the ceremony program. FFRF was informed on May 13, a day after the scheduled graduation date, that the ceremony was devoid of any religious undertones.