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My professional perspective would be that all students should have rights to practice religion in the school setting. Students deserve to have the right to freely practice their religion however they feel. I have the wish that teachers/administrators had the same right as students and could teach on it in the classroom. I am in the field of School Counseling and know that I will have to deal with religious type of situations in that field.

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Should there be freedom of religion in school setting?

Students should be able to freely express their religious views and how they feel about their religion.

I chose this topic because it means something to me. As a future school counselor, I want students to be able to express how they feel about certain situations, especially religion. My husband and I are both in the ministry and it means a lot to us to be able to talk about Jesus and also hear children talk about it.

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Texas schools say no to hiring a Chaplain counselor. Senate Bill 763 allows hiring religious chaplains as counselor, but in Texas a school district rejected the chaplain program. More than 1200 school districts approved the implementation of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty and three small districts approved the use of employed chaplains as school counselors. This outcome is a testament to the respect for trained school counselors and the power of local control advocacy. This bill was intended to help smaller rural districts employ school counselors because it can be difficult to find fully trained school counselors to fill those positions.

Source: https://www.texasaft.org/uncategorized/texas-schools-say-no-to-chaplain-counselors/

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Texas Schools Say “No” to Chaplain Counselors

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The state board of education voted last month on whether to allow public school districts to opt in to a new elementary school curriculum featuring bible-based lessons. Staci Childs, a board member, asked her pastor for prayer that this goes well. Staci says "I'd think that learning some new thing about the bible on a historical account is not necessarily bad." The material won narrow approval in the republican led vote. It is stated that there is a clear separation of church and state. Officials, educators, and parents are not being confronted on the amount of religious-infused lessons that they want children to have access to. "Bible wins in Texas" said Jonathan Saenz, president of Texas Values. "Liberals efforts to Target, Deny and ban the bible's influence on English literature and history fails." School districts won't be forced to introduce the curriculum in their kindergarten through fifth grade classrooms, but if they choose to do so, they would earn a financial incentive of $60 per child beginning next year.

Personally, as a Christian wife and mother and someone who is in the ministry and a teacher and future school counselor, I think it would be amazing to see bible lessons in the classroom.

Ortiz, E. "Separation of church and state? Religion in public schools is being tested by Christian conservatives." https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/bible-in-public-schools-church-state-religion-rcna181934

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Separation of church and state? Religion in public schools is being tested by Christian conservatives

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Texas education officials approved an optional Bible-based curriculum in elementary schools in the latest attempt to introduce religious materials to public school students.

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What should freedom of religion look like in public schools after Supreme court decision?

The supreme court's decision in Kennedy V. Bremerton School District reignited the conversation about religion's place in public schools. Many people fear that the ruling undermines separation of church and state in public education. Northeastern news agrees that schools need to do better in recognizing students and who they belong to religion wise. Some Jewish families are worried that their children will return to schools and have to participate in Christian prayer and holidays. This supreme court ruling will allow students to have equity and inclusion in their religion.

Kuzab. A. What should freedom of religion look like in public schools after Supreme court decision. https://news.northeastern.edu/2022/07/28/freedom-of-religion-public-schools/

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The Supreme Court's decision in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District last month reignited the conversation about religion's place in public schools.

While many fear that the ruling undermines traditional separation of church and state in public education, Northeastern experts agree that K-12 schools need to do better in recognizing and honoring the identities of students who belong to religious minorities.

As students in the southern parts of the United States are starting to return to classrooms for a new school year, some Jewish parents and educators are expressing growing concerns that their children will experience increased pressures from teachers to engage in Christian prayer and celebrate Christian holidays after the Supreme Court decision, says Karen Reiss Medwed, teaching professor at the Notheastern's Graduate School of Education, senior assistant dean of Faculty Affairs and Network Engagement in the College of Professional Studies and special advisor to the dean at CPS for diversity, equity and inclusion.

On June 27, six of nine Supreme Court justices agreed that Joseph Kennedy, a former high school football coach in Bremerton, Washington, was protected by the First Amendment when he repeatedly prayed in public on the 50-yard line after his team's games, and that the school district was wrong to discipline him after he refused to end the practice.

"While there have always been tensions between the separation of church and state and some public school practices in the U.S., often regarded as the Christmas Dilemma, this year feels particularly vulnerable for many families as the Supreme Court decision is being celebrated in some parts of the country as permission to celebrate and engage in public Christian prayer and practices," Medwed says.

Jewish parents fear their children will experience more antisemitism and other forms of anti-Christian microaggressions, Medwed says, which negatively impact students, who need to feel safe and supported in order to thrive in school.

Seven out of 10 Americans identify as Christian. When Christianity is slowly being practiced by teachers or in the school districts in places that it might have not been practiced in the past, it makes it harder to see the separation of church and state, Medwed says.

Noor Ali, assistant teaching professor in Northeastern's Graduate School of Education, concentration lead in transformative school leadership and the principal of a private, not-for-profit Muslim school, Al-Hamra Academy, in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, says she saw the Supreme Court's decision as a selective permission for Christian teachers and students to practice their faith in schools as well. Ali believes that the decision did not take into account the pressure that is being put on people of other faiths or those who don't practice religion and their feelings.

"What it has done is it has furthered the gap between those people who have privilege and those who don't," Ali says. "It would not have been okay if it was a player kneeling down protesting against Black oppression. It would not have been okay if it was a Muslim player, who went into a prayer after he scored a goal."

The religious symbolism that is OK is one that is normalized by mainstream, Ali says, while Muslim American students across the country have to make very mindful decisions about religious requirements like covering their heads.

Both Ali and Medwed agree that there is a place for faith in schools that needs to better respect the religious practices of other denominations besides Christianity.

"Our students are meant to be able to express their religious beliefs and be supported in their individual practices so that everyone could benefit from an egalitarian free education," Medwed says.

"We tried to separate religious anything and keep it sterile in an education system," Ali says. "It is almost performative of religious blindness, just like colorblindness was."

Such approach discounts the lived experience of various students in many ways and doesn't account for their religious needs, Ali says, from food choices available at cafeterias to different demographic groups to which holidays are acknowledged and celebrated at a school.

"What do you do with religion that is an integral part of you? You have to essentially work very hard in keeping it out," Ali says. "Always seeing yourself as the exception to the rule is hard work when you are five, six or seven years old."

Ali believes that instead of being religion-blind, schools should strive to recognize and understand different religions, honor and celebrate them.

All children should experience the freedom to practice their religion and feel empowered to do so, Medwed says. Her concern around the Supreme Court's decision is about students second-guessing their own religious identity. Medwed hopes that they can find the resilience to speak up when a teacher at their school asks them to do something that makes them feel religiously put upon, whether it is because it goes against their religion or because it makes them feel invisible in their religious identity, Medwed says.

Jewish students often have issues with wearing kippah/yamaka in secular schools, Medwed says, or with refusing to participate in a Christmas choir, and adults in positions of power might make children feel isolated socially or academically for expressing their personal beliefs.

"Which, supposedly, constitutionally each of those students has the right to, and not accepting an invitation to participate in religious activity that does not align with your religious beliefs," Medwed says.

Some communities prefer to keep their children in community centered affinity schools versus public schools, Ali says.

"There are marginalized communities that are trying to create safe spaces for their children, where their children can learn about their identity and be also themselves without having to explain themselves all the time that they would have to do in schools that are predominantly white," Ali says.

"In my situation, our population is not just minoritized and historically underrepresented. Our population is demonized," Ali says. "Our children carry the burden of 9/11, even though they are born a decade plus after it, so to be in a public school setting can sometimes be very difficult."

Ali, who has done research on American schooling and Muslim American students' experience in public and non-public schools, says she sees the same patterns emerge over and over again with students pretending that they are not hungry for 30 days over the month of Ramadan or trying to figure out which teacher looks friendly enough to ask about their prayer.

She believes that the solution to making every student feel welcomed and seen is through conversation. Public schools need to recognize that there are other students in the classrooms who need accommodations for their religious needs.

"In the educational context, we are all working in classrooms to do the best by our students. What additional work do we need to do so that we can recognize, support and cultivate freedom of religion not just for the religious majority, but also for the religious minorities amongst us?" Ali says.

Educational researchers like them, Medwed says, can offer expertise and provide training and insights for the K-12 leadership seeking to put in place safeguards that will communicate to the students that their freedoms are at the center of the student experience in schools.
For media inquiries, please contact media@northeastern.edu.

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What should freedom of religion look like in public schools after a recent Supreme Court decision?

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As students prepare to return to K-12 classrooms for the new school year, some parents express growing concerns that their children will experience increased pressures from teachers to engage in Christian prayer or holidays after a recent Supreme Court decision. Northeastern education experts weigh in on the ruling and the need for schools to do better in recognizing religious minorities.

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According the Constitution, the first amendment forbids public school officials from acting in their official capacities and within their job duties, to direct or favor prayer. Students and teachers do not shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at school. The first amendment right allows all students to use religious speech and pray at any time in the school setting with prejudice. Students may pray with fellow students during the school day with the same terms. Students may also speak to, and may attempt to persuade their peers about religious matters just as they may do with regard to political matters. (U.S. Const. amend. XIX)

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Slide #7-Judicial law-Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe

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Slide #7-Judicial law-Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe

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Santa Fe Independent School District was a case against about student-led and student-initiated prayer. Before football games, members of the student body of a Texas high school elected one of their classmates to address the players and spectators. These addresses were conducted over the school's loudspeakers and usually involved a prayer. Attendance at these events was voluntary. Three students sued the school arguing that the prayers violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. A majority of the Court rejected the school's argument that since the prayer was student initiated and student led, as opposed to officially sponsored by the school, it did not violate the First Amendment. The Court held that this action was school-sponsored prayer because the loudspeakers that the students used for their invocations were owned by the school. (530 US 290(2000)

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The Texas Education Code, § 25.901 reads: “A public school student has an absolute right to individually, voluntarily, and silently pray or meditate in school in a manner that does not disrupt the instructional or other activities of the school.

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Freedom of religion and Texas statute 110.003 states that religious freedom is protected. A government agency may not substantially burden a person's free exercise of religion.

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Slide #10-Local Administrative Rule/Policy 

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Slide #10-Local Administrative Rule/Policy 

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Dawson ISD does not and shall not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion (creed), gender, gender expression, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status, in any of its activities or operations. These activities include, but are not limited to, hiring and firing of staff, selection of volunteers and vendors, and provision of services. We are committed to providing an inclusive and welcoming environment for all members of our staff, clients, volunteers, subcontractors, vendors, and clients. (DISD, 2024)

This policy includes the first amendment right that students shall exercise their right to use religion in the school.

Website: https://www.dawsonisd.net/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=318611&type=d&pREC_ID=2067644

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The first amendment states that students must have freedom of expression of religion.

More than 55 years after the Supreme Court issued its landmark ruling striking down school-sponsored prayer, Americans continue to fight over the place of religion in public schools. Questions about religion in the classroom no longer make quite as many headlines as they once did, but the issue remains an important battleground in the broader conflict over religion’s role in public life.

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Public school staff must take reasonable steps to accommodate a student's religious beliefs or practices unless that accommodation would create an undue hardship. Meaning it is costly, compromises safety, or infringes on the rights of other students or employees.

Religious accommodation:

-excuses absences for religious observations

-provides alternative assignments with similar learning goals

-waiving dress code if it conflicts with religious beliefs.

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Slide #13-Bulleted list of recommendations

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Slide #13-Bulleted list of recommendations

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1. Allowing students to privately pray

2. Permitting students to form religious group meetings outside of instructional time

3. Accomodating religious holidays with flexible assignments

4. Ensuring respectful dialogue of all religions

5. Provide opportunities for students to discuss religious concepts in a respectful manner

6. Allow students to miss school for religious holidays

7. Provide alternate assignments for students who can not participate in activities due to religious reasons