Teacher Penalized For Giving Students Prayer Cards

Teacher Penalized For Giving Students Prayer Cards

Teacher Penalized For Giving Students Prayer Cards:

According to the report, a teacher has been penalized for handing out “prayer cards” to the students. The school system has been praised by atheist legal organizations for agreeing to punish the teacher.

In a statement issued on October 17, the Freedom From Religion Foundation said that it had “successfully persuaded the Jackson County School District to reprimand a teacher and update staff training after a middle school teacher placed ‘prayer cards’ underneath students’ desks.” The organization had contacted the school district, alleging that the teacher’s actions violated the U.S. Constitution. The Mississippi Gulf Coast is home to the Jackson County School District.

Through a letter to Jack Pickett, the district’s attorney, on September 12, the FFRF group initially made contact with the Jackson County School District on the matter. “A concerned District community member reported that [an] East Central High School teacher,” whose name was redacted in the letter made public, “recently placed cards with prayers written on them underneath all of her students’ desks during the first week of school,” according to legal fellow Samantha Lawrence.

“We write to request that the district investigate this matter and ensure that its teachers refrain from using their positions to proselytize and promote prayer going forward,” she stated. Lawrence insisted that “students have the right to be free from religious indoctrination in the public schools,” pointing to the teacher’s actions as a violation of the First Amendment to the Constitution.