On Wednesday, all principals in the Harrison County School system were given a memorandum regarding prayer in schools and, in particular, extracurricular and athletic events. The memo, written by Assistant Harrison County Superintendent of Schools Anthony Fratto, is the result of a complaint from the “Freedom from Religion Foundation.”

 

The complaint, according to the memo, said that “members of a local high school athletic team (were) leading a team prayer and asking other teams to join the prayer.”

 

Fratto said that, according to the law, a situation such as that is considered school sponsored prayer.

 

“I’m frustrated by it, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do. If that’s the law, I can’t in good conscience leave the school board exposed to legal penalties down the road. We don’t need the financial penalty and bad press that comes with that,” said Fratto.

 

Fratto cited several United States Supreme Court cases where school-sponsored prayer was shot down in the memo that was sent to principals. He also stated in the memorandum that “the fact that a student was leading the prayer did not cure the constitutional violation.”

 

The memorandum asks that all coaches sign off on the memorandum. Fratto said the same rule would hold true for all clubs and organizations within the school system – even at the elementary level. It was to be shared with head, assistant and volunteer coaches and "other student group leaders." 

 

“A teacher or a coach cannot be involved with this,” said Fratto. “My understanding, however, is that if a kid has a spontaneous prayer on their own and a few others join in then that would be fine. At the same time, I’m not a lawyer, but if it’s spontaneous that doesn’t seem to fit the definition of school sponsored and there’s nothing that can be done about that.”

 

As for the prayer ban at school-sponsored events, Fratto said the edict went into effect immediately.

 

“They were going to sue us immediately,” said Fratto. “ … I’m sure this has been in an issue in West Virginia before, but this is the first time that I, personally, am aware that it’s come to Harrison County.

 

“Do I agree with this? No, but that’s the law,” he continued. “Basically, this memo is serving as a general reminder regarding this issue.”

 

The Foundation, according to its Web site, is a non-profit organization. When asking individuals to join, it asks for those who want to “promote nontheism and defense the constitutional separation between religion and government” as part of the process. They claim to have 21,500 members.