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My name is Emily Golden. I have been a social studies teacher for 12 years in Sugar Land, a suburb of Houston. I am in the Professional School Counseling Program at Angelo State University. I chose the topic of Student Religious Activities and Expression in Schools because the school that I work in is very diverse. I have students of so many different religions and in my teaching experience I have seen so many different types of religious expression that I wasn't really exposed to before teaching at my current school. I created this legal guide for teachers and counselors to be more informed regarding student religious activities and expression and the legal information regarding this issue.

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I interviewed Sarah Drake. She is a counselor at Clements High School, the school where I currently work. Here is a link to her bio on the Clements counseling website: https://www.fortbendisd.com/domain/2549
We discussed the topic of student religious activities and expression in schools. Drake works in the same school I do, so she has had similar exposure to religious diversity. We discussed the importance of religion to a student's self-identity. Drake expressed that a lot of students are using religion to help express themselves socially and academically. She stressed the importance of not telling a student what they should believe in, but allowing them to verbalize their emotions and belief systems in the safety of a confidential space. (S. Drake, personal communication, July 7, 2022). After discussing this issue with Drake, I learned that some best practices are:

Be open to listening and ask questions surrounding their religion if you don't understand.

Know and understand your school population to understand cultural and ethnic make-up that influence different religions.

Be supportive of all different religions and belief systems.

(S. Drake, personal communication, July 7, 2022).
An issue that Drake brought up in our field is a major issue regarding this topic in general: school prayer. She shared an instance with me when she had a Muslim student ask if he could leave class early each day to pray in the afternoons. Students are allowed to pray, but their prayers cannot disrupt the educational environment. Drake and the principal agreed to offer the student a quiet place to pray between classes and at lunch so as not to disrupt his or other's educational environment (S. Drake, personal communication, July 7, 2022). School prayer seems to be an ongoing issue regarding religious activities and expression in schools, regardless of the religion and is generating a lot of public debate.

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In 2014, American School Counselor Association published an article called Student Spirituality in their School Counselor Magazine. I am including a link, but it does require you to be a member in order to access the article: https://www.schoolcounselor.org/Magazines/July-August-2014/Student-Spirituality?sso=d84e7653-9773-45a8-bf1d-829dcb15c4ee
In this article, Schellenberg & Kimbel mention the fact that school counselors can be hesitant to attend to student's spiritual and religious needs and that the ASCA has not set specific religious competencies. As a result, they decided to publish guidelines for school counselor's education, practice, and professional discussion surrounding spirituality and religion. These guidelines include an understanding of religion, spirituality, and worldview, being self-aware, and delivering student services that are reflective of a diverse set of belief systems (Schellenberg & Kimbel, 2014). These guidelines will help school counselors in being understanding of, sensitive to, and nondiscriminatory towards the different religious beliefs of the student population.

Reference:
Schellenberg, R., & Kimbel, T. (2014). Student spirituality. ASCA School Counselor Magazine. https://www.schoolcounselor.org/Magazines/July-August-2014/Student-Spirituality?sso=d84e7653-9773-45a8-bf1d-829dcb15c4ee

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The article discusses a situation in Tennessee in which a federal court issued an injunction to stop a school district from leading prayers, displaying religious symbols in schools, and distributing bibles to elementary school children (Weaver, 2020).

The school district did recognize that these practices were legally indefensible (Weaver, 2020).

The article also mentioned that Muslim and atheist students face discrimination in public schools across the country (Weaver, 2020).

This situation sets a precedent that will prevent schools from participating in such overt acts like allowing bibles to be distributed and displaying religious symbols on public school campuses.

Although there is a rise in controversy surrounding religious expression in schools in the past few years, all students, regardless of their religion, should be able to access public education without facing discrimination or religious influence from a school official (Weaver, 2020).

Reference:
Weaver, H. (2020). No more forced prayers in school. American Civil Liberties Union. https://www.aclu.org/news/religious-liberty/no-more-forced-prayers-in-school

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This article discusses an event held by President Trump in the Oval Office with Christian, Jewish, and Muslim students and teachers to commemorate National Religious Freedom Day (Ordoñez, 2020).

Trump stated that the government too often prevents students from praying and celebrating their religion, despite the fact that the Supreme Court banned school-sanctioned prayers during the 1960s (Ordoñez, 2020).

Specific acts of religious discrimination are mentioned in the article, including anti-Muslim bullying and a Christian student who was forced to wash ashes off of his forehead on Ash Wednesday (Ordoñez, 2020).

This article shows that there is an ongoing debate regarding religious expression in schools.

It also shows that despite legal protections surrounding religious freedom and preventing religious-based discrimination, there is still discrimination happening across the country.

Reference:
Ordoñez, F. (2020). Trump defends school prayer. critics say he's got it all wrong. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2020/01/16/796864399/exclusive-trump-to-reinforce-protections-for-prayer-in-schools

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One item related to student religious expression in schools in the ASCA Code of Ethics is A.1.f "School counselors respect students’ and families’ values, beliefs, sexual orientation, gender identification/expression and cultural background and exercise great care to avoid imposing personal beliefs or values rooted in one’s religion" (American School Counselor Association, 2016). The specific mention of religion here is referring to a counselor not imposing their own religion and beliefs on a student. According to this ethical standard, counselors should be respectful of a student's values and belief system, which are often rooted in religion. This gives students the freedom to practice their religion with respect from counselors and other school officials.
Reference:
American School Counselor Association. (2016). ASCA ethical standards for school counselors. https://www.schoolcounselor.org/getmedia/f041cbd0-7004-47a5-ba01-3a5d657c6743/Ethical-Standards.pdf

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One original administrative law relating to religion is the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

This law outlaws discrimination based on many factors, including religion (Civil Rights Act, 1964)

According to this law, a person, including a student, cannot be discriminated against based on their religion

In education, this implies that students cannot practice any religion that they want without discrimination and express their religion without discrimination

An individual's religion is thus protected from discrimination at the federal level and this protection applies to schools.

Reference:

Civil Rights Act of 1964, Pub. L. No. 88-352, 78 Stat. 241 (1964). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-78/pdf/STATUTE-78-Pg241.pdf

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Original law related to student religious activities and expression in schools is the 1st amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Link to 1st amendment: https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-1/

The first amendment prevents the federal government from making laws establishing or prohibiting the free exercise of religion (U.S. Const. Amend. I).

This gives an individual the freedom to practice any religion they want.

The U.S. constitution thus protects a student's freedom to express their religion and participate in religious activities, including while at school.

Reference:
Amendment I to the U.S. Constitution.

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An original judicial law related to student religious activities and expression in schools is the Supreme Court Case Engel v. Vitale.

The Supreme Court stated that public schools cannot hold prayers, even if participation is not mandatory and the prayer is not linked to a specific religion (Engel v. Vitale, 1962).

This is because it is a breach of separation between church and state.

Government-sponsored entities, including schools, cannot sponsor a prayer due to the first amendment prohibition of government laws establishing religion.

Students can still choose to pray individually or as a group, but the prayer cannot be led by the school, such as a prayer at the beginning of the school day.

Reference:
Engel v. Vitale (1962)
Link: https://www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources/educational-activities/facts-and-case-summary-engel-v-vitale

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The Fort Bend ISD Employee handbook in Standard 3.4 states "The educator shall not exclude a student from participation in a program, deny benefits to a student, or grant an advantage to a student on the basis of race, color, gender, disability, national origin, religion, family status, or sexual orientation" (Fort Bend ISD, 2021).
According to local district policy, a student cannot be excluded, denied, or given an advantage because of their religion. This aligns with national and state policy that also explicitly prohibit discrimination based on an individual's religion.
Reference:
Fort Bend ISD. (2021). Employee handbook. https://www.fortbendisd.com/cms/lib/TX01917858/Centricity/Domain/135/2020-21%20Employee%20Handbook%20-%20Final.pdf

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Do not impose your personal beliefs and/or religion on other individuals, especially students.

Be accepting of all religions and belief systems

Be open and willing to learn about different religions and belief systems

Ask questions about a student's religion if you do not understand something. That will indicate to them that you care.

Know and understand your school population to understand cultural and ethnic make-up that influence different religions.

Be informed. Understand the legal policies, laws, and requirements surrounding religious activities and expression in schools to help understand what students and staff can and cannot do on public school campuses.

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I personally did not grow up very religious, so I did not feel the need for religious expression when I was in school. Most of the other students that I grew up with and went to school with were Christian and a lot of them would participate in "meet me at the flagpole" prayer events and would pray during the moment of silence. My mom's side of the family is Jewish and I appreciated not having any type of prayer forced upon me in school. I decided to attend a public university, so even while I was in college I was free to practice any religion that I wanted and not subject to any school-led prayer. This differed from friends of mine who attended schools like Baylor and were required to go to church on campus weekly. I honestly do not feel that my education was hugely impacted by laws surrounding student religious activities and expression in schools but I am appreciative of the laws nonetheless. It wasn't until I became a teacher where I currently work and was exposed to many different religions that I really understood why the laws are so important and how students can be affected by religious discrimination.

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A statute related to student religious activities and expression in the Texas Education Code states that "Students may express their beliefs about religion in homework, artwork, and other written and oral assignments free from discrimination based on the religious content of their submissions." (2 TEC § 25.153)

This statute gives students explicit permission to express their religious beliefs in their school work.

This aligns with other laws in preventing discrimination based on an individual's religious beliefs.

A student's grade cannot be lowered or raised based on their religious beliefs.

Educators should not penalize a student academically based on their religious beliefs.

Reference:
School Counselors and Counseling Programs, 2 Tex. Edu. Code § 25.153.
https://texas.public.law/statutes/tex._educ._code_section_25.153