A school district in Ohio has reaffirmed its position that coaches cannot lead students in prayer after it received a complaint letter from a prominent atheist organization.
The Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation sent a letter to Lake Local Schools earlier this month, warning of possible legal action after it was informed that a high school cross-country coach reportedly led her team in prayer.
Lake Local Superintendent Brett Yeagley told The Christian Post in an emailed statement in response to the FFRF letter that, last week, “district administrators met to review these concerns in consultation with legal counsel.”
“First and foremost, the district recognizes that faith is very important to many families in our community and fully respects that students of all faiths have rights to pray at school that are protected by the U.S. Constitution,” Yeagley said. “Like students, teachers and coaches can pray independently and voluntarily during non-instructional time, but they may not lead, organize, or require students to pray as part of class or school-sponsored extracurricular activities or athletic events.”
Yeagley added that a meeting would be held on Friday with “all head coaches” in order “to ensure this important matter is addressed and expectations are clearly communicated.”
“Continuing forward, as it relates to the concerns raised by the FFRF, the district is committed to enforcing and maintaining compliance with constitutionally protected prayer and religious expression in public schools,” he added.
“As explained in the U.S. Department of Education’s current guidance on constitutionally protected prayer and religious expression in public elementary and secondary schools, students choosing to pray at athletic events have the opportunity to do so. No district employees will lead student athletes in prayer.”
On Sept. 4, FFRF legal fellow Kyle J. Steinberg wrote a letter to Yeagley explaining that a concerned parent informed the atheist legal group about a coach who was “leading her team in prayer before meets.”
“We are further informed that coach-led prayer is common across sports teams in the district,” continued Steinberg. “Our concerned parent reported that they and their child felt helpless, awkward, and embarrassed that the child was forced to either pray against their own beliefs or risk ostracizing themselves from the team by stepping away from the illegal prayer.”
Steinberg wrote that coaches can “express their religious beliefs however they wish outside of their roles as public school coaches, but they cannot use their position to foist their personal religious beliefs onto students or encourage students to pray.”
In 2022, the United States Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Kennedy v. Bremerton School Districtthat a public high school football coach could pray at the 50-yard line after games.
Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch authored the majority opinion, writing that “the Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses of the First Amendment protect expressions like” those of Coach Joe Kennedy.
“Kennedy prayed during a period when school employees were free to speak with a friend, call for a reservation at a restaurant, check email, or attend to other personal matters,” Gorsuch added.
“He offered his prayers quietly while his students were otherwise occupied. Still, the Bremerton School District disciplined him anyway … The Constitution and the best of our traditions counsel mutual respect and tolerance, not censorship and suppression, for religious and nonreligious views alike.”
In his letter to Yeagley, Steinberg said that the Kennedy case “did not alter the state of the law” and only gave legal protection to “a high school football coach’s silent, private post-game prayer,” whereas the Ohio coach “is requiring her team to take part in prayer at each meet.”
