Review Lee v. Weisman, Santa Fe Independent School Dist. v. Doe, and Town of Greece, N.Y. v. Galloway decisions.
Step Two:
Assume that you are contacted by the chairperson of a local public school board for legal advice. The board has a practice of opening each meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance and a short prayer. The prayer has been delivered by different people over the years. Various clergy from the community volunteer to come in and provide a prayer. The current chairperson says that the practice has been going on for decades, but she is unsure for how long exactly.
While the meetings are open to the public, they are generally not well attended by the public. The attendees are generally the board members and any school staff that may be needed to provide information to the board about the issues on the agenda. On occasion, parents and students attend school board meetings to be recognized for their achievements, or to speak on some issue pending before the board.
At the last school board meeting, a parent attended and came up to the chairperson afterwards to object to the board starting the meeting with a prayer. The parent said that she found it offensive and that it violates the First Amendment.
The board seeks your advice on what they should do going forward regarding the prayer. They want to know if they can continue their practice of opening meetings with a prayer or not, and, if so, are there any specific steps that they need to take to make sure they are following constitutional requirements.
Step Three:
Provide an answer to the board’s questions. Be sure that your answer addresses the specific legal standards and requirements noted in the materials and cases, and gives them specific advice on what they should do based upon those standards. Blue Book citations to those specific cases above are required.
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