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No invocations for HUSD school board for now
Board member Anthony Riley, who proposed the invocation, pulls it from the agenda, pending more legal review
The Hesperia Unified School District won't be opening school board meetings with a prayer in the immediate future.
The idea of adding an invocation to school board meetings dates back years, but was only aggressively pursued starting in 2009, when school board member Anthony Riley took up the cause. The idea was approved by the board in June, but never put into action, while the board considered exactly what way to conduct an invocation.
In July, the conservative Christian non-profit Alliance Defend Fund sent the district a legal opinion on the legality of government agencies holding invocations and included their template for an invocation process that would pass legal muster.
Much of the ADF's argument hinges on a 1983 Supreme Court case, Marsh v. Chambers, in which the court upheld that government funding for chaplains was constitutional because of the “unique history” of the United States.
Last week, the American Civil Liberties Union sent the district a legal opinion of their own, attacking the ADF's letter, and cited a 1999 U.S. circuit court case, Coles v. Cleveland School Board, which stated that school boards are not just like any other governmental body, but instead have to be considered to be part of the public schools they govern, and thus an invocation would run afoul of court decisions banning official prayer in school.
The ACLU warned the district would face "a strong likelihood of being sued" if it went ahead with the ADF's proposed invocation policy, with potential plaintiff's attorney fees in the hundreds of thousands of dollars if the district lost.
On Monday night, the HUSD school board was scheduled to vote on the invocation policy -- and blinked.
Before the board began discussing the issue, Riley asked the board to pull the invocation-related items from the agenda, pending further consultation with HUSD lawyer Dennis Wagner.
"Initially, Dennis and his law firm," Wagner & Pelayes, "put forward an invocation that should past muster," Riley said Tuesday, "Because there are districts across the nation that kick off their meetings with a non-sectarian invocation and a flag salute."
The Wagner & Pelayes version of the invocation was non-sectarian and "watered-down," compared to the ADF proposal, Riley said.
"I think the ACLU's major issue is with the Alliance Defense Fund, their version of the invocation [policy]," he said. "We'll let the dust settle on this particular issue ... Obviously, we have other pressing issues to deal with."
The next regular meeting of the HUSD school board will be held on Feb. 8 at 6 p.m. in the HUSD Educational Support Center Annex, 15576 Main Street.
Beau Yarbrough can be reached at 956-7108 or at beau@hesperiastar.com. Follow us on Twitter at Twitter.com/HesperiaStar.
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| HUSD Dad, I find it alarming that you would make the claim that the ACLU made this threat during hard times. First, the ACLU never threatened to sue, they merely said IF the district takes this action they are opening the door to a suit. Second, our rights are guaranteed in good and bad times. Just because we have a poor economy doesn't mean we suspend rights. If anything its during bad times that we must be diligent and not give up rights to merely get out of this mess. |
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| Just One Parent - Jan 14, 2010 02:45:57 PM | Remove Comment |
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| Yeah, and in 100 years this community will still remember that the teacher union continues to refuse to give up anything in favor of kids crammed into class rooms and junior teachers being let go. For the record, most of the junior teachers have proven to be better than the old ones in my opinion. |
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| Just One Parent - Jan 14, 2010 02:41:28 PM | Remove Comment |
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| Get over it! We have issues we need to address. Do you really think God cares if you pray silently or out loud? Shame on all of you. Do the job the district is paying you to do which is balance the budget. Pray before, silently during and as loud as you want after. In a 100 years your silly little ideas will be forgotten, |
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| teacher - Jan 13, 2010 09:27:15 PM | Remove Comment |
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| I can see the Reverend Jeremiah Wright giving an invocation, but who will he be calling the Mac Daddy now? |
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| mo - Jan 13, 2010 04:20:53 PM | Remove Comment |
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| ah yes, but the ACLU is offering an opinion. They are not saying that they will sue. Correct? They are giving a legal opinion. They are warning the district of the possiblity that someone could bring suit. |
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| parentootoo - Jan 13, 2010 12:58:33 PM | Remove Comment |
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| The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California is warning the Hesperia Unified School District that a proposal to open meetings with a prayer opens the district to “a strong likelihood of being sued.” |
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| parentoo - Jan 13, 2010 12:43:40 PM | Remove Comment |
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| The board would open up a can of worms if they pursue this ADF Christian groups fight. Whos religion will be excepted to give the prayer and which groups will be left out. What if someone like Reverend Jeremiah Wright was invited by an Hesperia resident or district employee. |
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| parenttoo - Jan 13, 2010 12:28:47 PM | Remove Comment |
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| Where does it say the ACLU will sue? The ACLU was asked a legal opinion. The ACLU does not pipe down because they are a constitutional watchdog group who was asked their opinion. It only takes on person in our district to bring suit and damage to taxpayers. We need more than the ADF's opinion in this matter. |
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| parenttoo - Jan 13, 2010 12:23:37 PM | Remove Comment |
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| My family knows a beautiful and kind Jehovah Witness family that do not believe in the flag salute because in it we pledge our allegiance to the flag which represent the GOVERNMENT, instead they give their allegiance to God, Jehovah first. Yet they still have great respect for the views of others and will stand up quietly during the pledge. If they can accept that we are all different, why can't the ACLU pipe down and just let it go?
If someone doesn't want to hear prayer before a meeting, wait two minutes then come on in. |
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| Hesperia Parent - Jan 13, 2010 10:49:35 AM | Remove Comment |
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| for the DP reader, from the ACLU site
Religion is pervasive in the public square in the United States and it is constitutionally protected. Some people however mistakenly use the word "public" when they really mean "governmental." This can be seen for example with Ten Commandments monuments. The issue is not "religion in the public square" as the rhetoric misleadingly suggests but whether the government should be making decisions about whose sacred texts and symbols should be placed on government property and whose should be rejected |
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| parent - Jan 13, 2010 10:34:59 AM | Remove Comment |
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| Anyone who would think the ACLU would threaten a person for praying in their own home knows nothing about the real ACLU Do some homework. |
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| anotherparent - Jan 13, 2010 10:26:18 AM | Remove Comment |
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| The ACLU has been villified by the right wing for so long that just their name in print provokes anger by conservatives regardless of facts. Now us taxpayers are suppose to take the word of the Conservative Christian Alliance and believe the ACLU is bad. Sorry, I will take the ACLU advice over the ADF. |
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| anotherparent - Jan 13, 2010 10:23:09 AM | Remove Comment |
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| Now the ACLU is ruling our schools. What next will they be coming into our homes and threatening to sue us for praying in our own homes. Give me a break, everyone is so afraid of their own little piece of time. They need to know who makes what freedoms we do have. That isn't the ACLU. It's God. Without whom we would not be. |
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| Georgia Gbson - Jan 13, 2010 10:02:04 AM | Remove Comment |
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| But, but, but, without help from heaven, the HUSD board members might stop getting along so well. How will they ever get anything done? |
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| chuckles - Jan 13, 2010 07:23:49 AM | Remove Comment |
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| Though I agree with HUSD Parent. I find it very sad that the ACLU brought about this threat during hard times, especially hard financial times for the district. The ACLU clearly is not thinking of the children. |
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| HUSD Dad - Jan 13, 2010 06:53:28 AM | Remove Comment |
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| What about if everyone in the district from the superintendent on down took a slight pay cut? Then would it be necessary to layoff so many hardworking employees? |
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| HUSD parent - Jan 13, 2010 06:11:09 AM | Remove Comment |
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| Obviously, we have other pressing issures to deal with. |
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| HUSD parent - Jan 13, 2010 06:09:35 AM | Remove Comment |
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| I searched and found the ACLU's mission statement which is as follows.
The American Civil Liberties Union ACLU, is an American national organization whose stated mission is, I quote, to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.
Maybe we should request that the ACLU, DEFEND AND PPRESERVE OUR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES TO BEGIN BOARDS MEETINGS WITH PRAYER. Wouldn't they, by their own mission statement have to represent us? |
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| DP Reader - Jan 12, 2010 08:18:01 PM | Remove Comment |
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| Riley gets it after all. Yeah, now work to solve the issues that are in front of you instead of looking to the heavens for a miracle. |
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| The Problem - Jan 12, 2010 08:09:34 PM | Remove Comment |
