A high school student body president at a Texas public school told
lawyers for a freedom of religion advocacy group that the school
principal threatened to strip her of her powers if she didn’t conform to
his instructions regarding prayer on school property.
The Texas Justice Foundation (TJF) told WorldNetDaily that the
student, Beth Long, who attends Mission High School in Mission, Texas,
contacted the organization in early September and reported the threat.
According to TJF, the student was also told to “pledge allegiance” to
the principal and the school district, adding that the principal’s rules
prohibiting school prayer exceeded those set forth by the Fifth U.S.
Circuit Court in a February ruling on school prayer.
TJF spokesman and attorney Tom Stack said the court ruling, which
involved the Santa Fe school district, “has caused some rumbling in the
state of Texas.”
In Doe vs. Santa Fe Independent School District, the ACLU sued
on behalf of three school district families, alleging that the school
was violating the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The
families involved in the suit chose to remain anonymous.
The court agreed with the ACLU, ruling that students and officials
who used school public address systems to conduct prayers before ball
games violated the Constitution’s guarantee of separation of church and
state. The court, Stack told WorldNetDaily, also ruled that while public
schools cannot officially sanction prayers, they could not inhibit
students from “voluntarily initiating a prayer.”
“Since that ruling,” however, “both the ACLU and the Texas
Association of School Boards both put out position papers letting school
districts know the Santa Fe case is out there now and to ‘proceed with
caution,'” he said. He added that the ACLU’s position paper “basically
said, ‘Hey, be careful or we’ll sue you.'”
“Anytime they get involved in issues, it seems to scare people,” he
said.
Over fear of a lawsuit, many school districts have elected to adopt
policies “that swing so far to the left” as to circumvent “a student’s
constitutional right to pray, under the First Amendment,” said the TJF
lawyer.
Stack said Long was “threatened” by either the school principal, Dr.
Mousad Ahmadian, or other school officials — possibly one teacher —
“not to pray at school football games.” Normally, he said, “the student
body president opens up (the games) with a prayer” over the public
address system at the stadium.
According to Stack, the court in the Santa Fe case “ruled that as
long as a student didn’t pray over the PA system, that’s reasonable and
allowable.”
“The Court did not prevent, or even address, voluntary prayer
initiated either by a student or a parent,” he added.
However, “the school principal went so far as to even require that
she (Long) raise her right hand and swear an oath to him, that she would
follow and abide by all his rules,” he said. According to TJF, Ahmadian
allegedly followed up with a memorandum to all school Christian groups
forbidding them to meet on campus and pray in school.
WorldNetDaily contacted Ahmadian’s office, but he did not return
phone calls.
Stack said the school contacted TJF denying the allegations made by
Long after the legal aid organization wrote a letter to school district
officials. In their letter to TJF, Stack said school officials affirmed
“support (for) the (Fifth Circuit) court’s ruling allowing voluntary
prayer to be conducted on school grounds.”
But, he said, at least four other school officials, “with the
knowledge or acknowledgement of the school principal,” told Long and
other student body representatives no religious activity would be
permitted on school grounds.
In the meantime, Stack said, students have continued to voluntarily
pray before games and have found unique ways to garner support from
fans.
Stack said before each game it is customary for student government
representatives to meet their peers from the opposing team at midfield.
“At one recent game,” he said, “four Mission High students met at
midfield, then took off their jackets when they met their peers. Each
student had a big letter spelling out the word, ‘P-R-A-Y’, taped to
their backs.” Stack said the crowd cheered — and then complied — as
did fans from the opposing team.
“The crowd was overwhelmingly in favor of prayer,” he said.
A confidential Texas Association of School Board (TASB) legal memo
obtained by WorldNetDaily and dated Aug. 25, 1999, has advised all Texas
school districts that “organized prayer at football games is not
permissible,” and that “the consequences of disregarding the [Fifth
Circuit] court’s orders could be very serious.”
The TASB memo advised schools to “discontinue school-sponsored prayer
at football games and at other school-related activities, except at
graduation.”
“Districts should continue to refrain from such prayer unless the
Supreme Court grants specific permission for this activity,” the memo
said.
But the TASB memo appeared to substantiate claims made by TJF that,
provided a student, parent, clergyman or teacher does not use a
school-owned public address system to recite a prayer, there is no
violation of the separation of church and state. The TASB memo
recommended “individual prayer or a moment of silence” as options to
reciting prayers over school loudspeakers.
