School District May Face Lawsuit Over Student-Led Prayer

A Washington-based organization, which defends the Constitution's guarantee of separation of church and state, says it is preparing to sue Greenville County Schools over student-led prayer, according to a local television station's report.

Last month, the American Humanist Association sent a cease-and-desist letter to Greenville County Schools superintendent W. Burke Royster and Mountain View Elementary School Principal Jennifer Gibson, after two students prayed during a fifth-grade graduation service held at North Greenville University in May.

The group gave the school two weeks to respond, or threatened legal action.

According to Fox Carolina, the district has responded. This is an excerpt from the copy of the letter sent to AHA from the District:

"...the District will not prohibit this practice as long as the prayer or message is student-led, and initiated and does not create a disturbance to the event."

AHA told Fox they are prepared to take the matter to court. 

"The school has continued to insist that it can hold public elementary school graduations in churches, and include prayers as part of the ceremonies," Bill Burgess, a spokesman for AHA told Fox Carolina.

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