Prayer out at Shelby graduation

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Prayer out at Shelby graduation

Principal yields to Muslim's plea

By Peter Smith, The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky), May 24, 2006

Shelby County High School will not schedule any formal prayers at its June 2 high school graduation because a student complained that such prayers violate the constitutional ban on state-sponsored religion.

While students traditionally have given invocations and benedictions at graduation ceremonies, none will be scheduled this year, Shelby High School principal Gary Kidwell said yesterday.

He said the school had received a letter from the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky on behalf of a student demanding the school not have the prayer.

The school "will be compliant with the law and also provide a respectful and dignified program for all students," he said a day after meeting in closed session with the Board of Education and a lawyer -- while residents held a prayer vigil outside.

Kidwell added that traditional prayers at a school banquet and an awards ceremony also will not be held.

Arshiya Saiyed, who is Muslim, identified herself yesterday as the student who filed the ACLU complaint. She said other students share her view, a contention echoed by Kidwell.

Arshiya, 17, said she and those other students are "pretty happy" with the principal's decision.

But whether that decision means there will be no prayer is another question.

Last Friday at Russell County High School, after a court ordered a student who had been designated to pray not to do so, students rose on their own and recited the Lord's Prayer during the principal's remarks. And the student who'd been designated to lead the prayer included religious messages in her remarks to graduates.

Arshiya, who was born in Chicago, said she understands that student speakers at Shelby County also might include a prayer in their remarks, but she hopes they will respect her objections to the formal prayer.

"If they choose to pray … we hope it's a respectful prayer" for a religiously diverse audience, said Arshiya, who plans to study international relations and political science at Centre College and then attend law school.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that student-led prayers at high school football games and clergy-led prayers at high school graduations are unconstitutional.

The Liberty Counsel, a Florida law firm representing the student who spoke at Russell County's graduation, argues that if students elect a peer to give a message, without specifying that it be a prayer, that student has a right to pray.

Some Shelby County residents echo that contention.

"If the students voluntarily choose someone to give a message and that student chooses to pray, that is the student's right," said Jennifer Decker, whose son attends Shelby County.

Kidwell said yesterday that Shelby County students of all views have reacted maturely about the debate.

"Sometimes kids are a lot more mature and understanding than … we give them credit for," he said. "I think students are handling the whole issue really, really well."

ACLU lawyer Lili Lutgens declined to comment.

The Russell County case went to court after school officials there scheduled the prayer in spite of a similar letter.

Lutgens did say the ACLU and the Russell County student are "considering our options" after the prayer occurred in spite of the court ruling.

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