ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, December 5, 1996 TAG: 9612050031
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
STUDENT BIBLE GROUPS can meet at school, and teachers can watch but cannot participate.
On most school days, a group of students gathers in a classroom at Hidden Valley Junior High in Roanoke County for Bible study before classes begin.
A teacher attends the meeting as a monitor to ensure that the students comply with school rules and take care of school property, but does not participate in the activities.
The Bible-study students can meet at the school because the principal allows other noncurricular clubs to use school facilities during noninstructional time.
The federal Equal Access Act ensures that student religious clubs have access to school facilities and media on the same basis as other noncurricular clubs - clubs not related directly to a subject taught at the school.
Teachers may be present but should not participate, because that would violate the separation of church and state, Bunnie Riedel told the Roanoke County Council of PTA this week. Riedel is director of chapters and faith groups for Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
Teachers can take an active role in other student noncurricular organizations, such as a Key Club, but "student religious clubs and meetings are different," Riedel said. Teachers become "agents of the state" when they come on school property - even if it's before the school day begins, she said.
"The children might see teachers there and interpret it to mean that the school backs the events," she said.
Like police officers, teachers have to give up some rights when they are on the job, Riedel said.
She said teachers also should not participate in other student religious activities, such as prayer around the flagpole because that could be viewed as school sponsorship of the event.
Outside adults should not direct or regularly attend the student Bible study either, she said. Neither should coaches or teachers actively participate in meetings of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Riedel told the PTA group.
David Blevins, Hidden Valley's principal, said the students asked to use a classroom for Bible study before the school day begins. He told them they could use the room if they had a teacher who would attend, but not participate in, the meetings.
Blevins said Riedel's explanation helped clarify the rationale for the ban on teacher participation in student Bible study.
County school officials and the PTA brought Riedel to the Roanoke Valley to talk with teachers and parents about religion in schools and the controversy over such issues as prayer in school, vouchers and religion in the curriculum.
Students can use religious experiences and themes in class art and assignments if they follow the guidelines for the assignment, she said, but teachers should be cautious about giving "open-ended assignments" that allow students to focus more on religion than on academic issues.
Riedel said students can read the Bible or other religious texts during their free time, but teachers can prohibit such books during instructional time.
Students are free to pray alone or in groups as long as it is not disruptive and does not infringe on others, she said.
But school officials may not organize, mandate or participate in prayer, she said.
Students also have a right to distribute religious materials to their schoolmates if they comply with the rules that are imposed for the distribution of all nonschool literature.
Riedel said disputes over religion in the schools are inevitable because children come from families with diverse religious beliefs and cultures.
"The schools have been Ground Zero in the conflict over church and state," she said. "Public schools are the one institution that brings together people from all cultures and beliefs and throws them into one setting."
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