Prayer during Morgan City High School Veterans Day program challenged

A prayer by an invited veteran during Morgan City High School’s Veterans Day program prompted a humanist group based in Washington, D.C., to threaten the St. Mary Parish School System with a lawsuit if the “practice of including prayer in school-sponsored events” does not immediately stop.
The American Humanist Association — whose mission “is to advance humanism, an ethical and life-affirming philosophy free of belief in any gods and other supernatural forces,” according to its website — threatened in a letter to school officials to file a federal lawsuit if the school does not provide written assurances that prayer will not be included in future school-sponsored events within seven days of Tuesday’s receipt of the letter.
A news release from the school system this morning states that Superintendent Donald Aguillard, in collaboration with board attorney Eric Duplantis, carefully reviewed the complaint made by a female student at the school and “determined that the introductory prayer by an invited veteran during the opening of the program was not consistent with district policy. The district will provide guidance to school principals to preserve compliance to the law while also protecting the constitutional rights of all of our students,” the news release states.
Aguillard said this morning in a phone call, “The community needs to be assured we certainly will take this matter very seriously. We will follow constitutional law as it relates to prayer in schools.”
In telephone interviews this morning, Duplantis and Assistant Superintendent Teresa Bagwell, who attended the ceremony, were unsure whether the Rev. Thomas Fromenthal’s comments, listed on the program as a “moment of reflection” were, in fact, a prayer.
Fromenthal, pastor of Cornerstone Ministries and a U.S. Navy veteran of Vietnam, confirmed this morning that he did say a prayer concerning veterans.
“I don’t honestly remember him saying God or Jesus. Could he have, and I don’t remember? Yes,” Bagwell said, adding that Fromenthal spoke about protecting veterans, watching over them and about their families and the hardships faced when their loved one is at war.
She later added, “The veterans ceremony is quintessential to Morgan City High School … We don’t want to detract from the main purpose of honoring veterans to have it overshadowed by a prayer,” Bagwell said.
Aguillard alluded to a School Board policy addressing prayer in schools. Duplantis said the policy follows laws governing prayer in schools.
The policy states, in part, that “voluntary, student-initiated, student-led prayer” may be permitted, but no student attending the school shall be required to participate in any religious activity at the school.
The humanist association letter states the assembly opened with a Christian prayer led by an adult.
“In addition, the students were instructed to stand and bow their heads for the prayer. Attendance at the assembly was required and the students were not given prior notice that a prayer would be included as part of the assembly,” the letter continues.
“The student in question felt compelled to stay at the assembly despite her sincere objection to school-sponsored prayers, because she feared the school would punish her if she attempted to leave. (Apparently, teachers have punished students in the past for exercising their constitutional right to sit out the Pledge of Allegiance.),” the letter stated.
Aguillard said the school system is working with Duplantis “on clear directives to principals regarding prayer in schools,” including after-school activities and sporting events.
Duplantis said in a telephone interview this morning that the law is a “very complicated matrix of what’s allowed and not allowed.”
Some of the factors governing whether prayer in school or at school events is legal include where the prayer takes place, who initiates the prayer, who says the prayer, whether attendance is required at the program and even what exactly is said, Duplantis said.
“The School Board has a responsibility to teach citizenship, and one of its jobs is making sure everybody’s constitutional rights are protected,” Duplantis said.