IR School Board approves prayer policy revisions

By Jonathan Starkey
Staff Reporter

Indian River School Board voted on Tuesday to revise policies regarding prayer at graduation and religion in schools. The policies were originally adopted on Oct. 19, 2004, after hearing complaints from a local Jewish family.

Revised portions approved Tuesday detail who is responsible for selecting graduation speakers and regulate the content of those speeches. Most revisions, however, just changed wording in both policies and aligned them with recent court decisions, according to school board President Charles Bireley.

Despite passage of the original policies, Mona, Marco Dobrich and their children — a Jewish family — and another unidentified family filed suit in federal court against the school district in early 2005, claiming it had violated their constitutional rights to freedom of religion by creating a district-wide “environment of religious exclusion.”

Specific examples cited in the complaint included the invocation and benediction speeches at the 2004 Sussex Central High School graduation delivered by local pastor Jerry Fike.

“We pray that You direct them into the truth and eventually the truth that comes by knowing Jesus,” Fike said in one of the day’s prayers.

The original graduation policy addressed earlier complaints about Fike’s speech, stating that “School officials may not mandate or organize prayer at graduation or select speakers in a manner that favors religious speech.”

Additions approved Tuesday night included the following: “The keynote speaker at commencement/graduation ceremonies shall be selected by the senior class officers by whatever method they decide. The content of any remarks by the keynote speaker and/or student speakers does not reflect the views of the Indian River School Board or School District, or its staff or other students.”

In Section 3 of the graduation policy, it addresses possible content of those speeches, perhaps open-endingly, stating that “No graduation speaker shall use or exploit the opportunity to speak at graduation to proselytize, advance or convert anyone, or to derogate or otherwise disparage any particular faith or belief.”

Revisions in the religion policy were not as broad, but instead addressed wording issues and clarified sections of the policy. The words “faculty monitors” used to start a sentence on the third page of the policy, for instance, was changed to “staff monitors.”

On the second page, the phrase “religious belief” is specified to include the “belief in the tenets of Christianity, Judaism or Islam…”

The original religion policy — which was left mostly intact — addressed issues that later appeared in the Dobriches complaint, including school-sponsored religious clubs and teachers participating with students in religious activity. The complaint specifically cites a teacher at Selbyville Middle School preaching “one true religion” and other passing out Bibles in school.

“When acting in their official capacities as representatives of the state, District staff are prohibited from encouraging or discouraging prayer, and from participating in such activity with students,” the revised religion policy reads.

Visit Indian River School District’s Web site at www.irsd.net, click on District Profile, then on Policies to read the two amended — and all other district policies — in full. Read more on the issue in next week’s Coastal Point.