Prayer banned at school events

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Friday, April 11, 2003 | 11:20 a.m.

The Clark County School Board approved a new regulation Thursday that bans organized prayer at school-sponsored events such as graduation, while at the same time reaffirming that religious expression by individual speakers will not be stifled.

Under the new regulation organized prayer such as invocations or benedictions would be forbidden. If the school district dropped its policy of reviewing all speakers' comments prior to an event, an individual's remarks would not be considered attributable to the school and would be exempt, the policy states.

Administrators would also be allowed to issue disclaimers, stating that an individual's remarks are not attributable to the school.

Superintendent Carlos Garcia said the district will continue check all speeches for inappropriate content.

Allen Lichtenstein, senior attorney for the Nevada chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the new policy -- coupled with Garcia's assertion that all speeches will continue to be reviewed -- sends a mixed message to the public. The ACLU plans to move forward with a lawsuit challenging the district policy, Lichtenstein said.

"The board seems to believe that having a secret verbal policy underneath somehow negates the written regulation," Lichtenstein said Thursday following the board vote. "But the law doesn't work that way. It's the written regulation people are supposed to follow, and the district needs to follow the law."

Recent rulings by both the Supreme Court and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals have held that students at events such as graduation are a captive audience and cannot be subjected to organized prayer, Lichtenstein said.

But William Hoffman, general counsel for the school district, said the regulation is in line with both court rulings and requirements under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Hoffman said his office will provide additional guidance to school officials to ensure the regulation is carried out when high school graduations begin in June.

School Board President Sheila Moulton said she was confident the regulation would withstand a court challenge.

"We've been told by Mr. Hoffman, as well as our own school board counsel, that the regulation is sound," Moulton said. "I trust their legal judgment."