This from the Interior Journal:Sunday, Lincoln County Schools Superintendent Larry Woods made an announcement that appeared to chart a new course for the schools.
The superintendent told the congregation, which included teachers and school district support personnel, that a teacher’s right to discuss religion in class is protected by the First Amendment.
“The First Amendment gives us freedom of speech, and that includes
teachers and counselors," Woods said. “Public education has been afraid of the law. I say take it to the rim of the law and do things.”
He continued: “Here’s what teachers can do in the classroom. Student prayer and religious discussion are permitted as long as it is their freedom of choice. It doesn't matter if the kids want to pray, led by a Christian teacher, you may do so."
Woods’ statements put Lincoln County in contravention with recent legal decisions that reaffirm that neither teachers nor administrators can promote prayer in school, although students continue to enjoy the right to pray individually or in groups while at school.
“One thing we need to bring back and that is religion in school,” Woods emphatically told the congregation. “I will say that very openly and I say that very much with confidence. I am an advocate, and I will lobby ... I will speak with our government officials about that topic."
However, in an interview with me Monday, Woods retracted the statement that teachers may lead prayer, saying that he meant to say student-lead prayer is acceptable, but that teachers may ask to participate in the prayer.
“What I meant was that teachers role-model themselves by allowing the kids to make choices. I didn’t mean that teachers were going to say ‘now everyone bow
your head.’ That would be illegal.”
When I presented Woods with guidance from the NEA about teachers not being
allowed to participate in prayer, he said, “Every 20,000 schools in America are
breaking the law, and every coach in America is breaking the law” when they
allow prayer at graduation exercises and sporting events.
The National Education Association, the National School Board Association, the National PTA and many other professional education and religious organizations endorse a handbook titled, “A Teacher’s Guide to Religion in the Public Schools.” The current edition published by the First Amendment Center in 2004 states: “As employees of the government, public-school teachers are subject to the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment and thus required to be neutral concerning religion while carrying out their duties as teachers. That means, for example, that teachers do not have the right to pray with or in the presence of students during the school day.”Sunday, Woods also told the assembly: "Religious material may be distributed just like any other educational material in class."
Kentucky educational legal counsel agree that this might be a misinterpretation of court decisions in Arizona, where a religious group had been denied the right to distribute information about an after school religious program. In that case, according to the National Education Association, over an 18-month period a school distributed fliers from 225 groups like the Boy Scouts, the PTA and day care programs, but refused to distribute notices by the Child Evangelism Fellowship regarding after-school meetings of student religious clubs sponsored by the group.
Again, on Monday, Woods asked to amplify his comments to say that he meant that students, not teachers or school, were free to distribute religious material.
The United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit District ruled in favor of the religious group saying that as long as they are not proselytizing the school can’t refuse to distribute their flyers, but this doesn’t authorize a district or its employees to originate religious material and distribute like educational material.
The same guidebook states: “Teachers are permitted to wear non-obtrusive jewelry, such as a cross or a Star of David. But teachers should not wear clothing with a proselytizing message (a “Jesus Saves” T-shirt, for instance).” This was the issue that caused, in part, a backlash against former Lincoln County High School Principal Judy Hall, when she tried to regulate some of the more overtly religious messages in the classroom. Hall left due to familial concerns and was replaced by Tim Godbey, former headmaster of Danville Christian Academy.
Speaking from Frankfort, American Civil Liberties Union lawyer William Sharp said that teachers leading prayer “flies in the face of allowing parents to raise their children as they see fit ... public school teachers have enough of a challenge teaching students the basics without endorsing or promoting a religous viewpoint.”
Sunday services of Stanford Baptist Church are broadcast live on WPBK-FM and are available for listening on demand on the station’s web site.
Last Sunday’s broadcast is available on the web. Woods begins speaking 49 minutes into the broadcast.
No comments:
Post a Comment