THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 14, 1995 TAG: 9507140408
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
Phyllis Thompson still gets worked up over the time two years ago that her 6-year-old daughter got into trouble for saying grace before lunch at a Norfolk elementary school.
School officials told her prayer wasn't allowed.
Thompson said she knew the school was wrong, but she didn't get any sympathy from the principal. That's why Thompson said she welcomed President Clinton's move this week to end the confusion over religious expression in public schools.
On Wednesday, Clinton directed the U.S. Department of Education and the Attorney General's Office to develop guidelines to help principals and teachers avoid the legal quicksand that lies between two Constitutional principles: the right to religious expression versus the separation of church and state. Clinton said he wanted the guidelines completed before school begins in the fall.
``There should be some kind of guidelines, because around here people say, `You can't pray in school,' and that's not true,'' Thompson said Thursday. ``There is a lot of misunderstanding - at different schools there's different things.''
In interviews Thursday, parents, educators and students said they generally favored Clinton's attempt to clarify what they agreed is a confusing issue.
Some educators said they steer clear of anything religious because of uncertainty over their legal standing.
``You're walking on eggshells all the time wondering if you can or can't do something, so maybe it'll be good to have guidelines,'' said Marian Flickinger, president of the Norfolk Federation of Teachers.
``A lot of time it's not the law preventing something but a fear of misinterpreting it, so we just avoid it altogether, which is kind of sad.''
Marshall Leathers, a rising senior at Indian River High School in Chesapeake, said he belongs to a student Bible Club that meets in a classroom after school and has never encountered a problem. But given the importance that religion plays in people's lives, he said guidelines would be helpful.
``I think it's something important to tackle so that everyone will be comfortable with how religion is handled in school,'' Leathers said.
Virginia stepped into the forefront of the debate last month when the State Board of Education adopted its own set of guidelines, thought to be the first state to do so. The guidelines, based on court rulings on specific types of religious expression, offer advice to local school officials on what is permissible.
State schools Superintendent William C. Bosher Jr. said Thursday that the state has sent a copy of the guidelines to federal officials. Bosher said he was glad to see Clinton address the issue and believes that the federal guidelines ``can complement'' what the state has done.
James P. Jones, president of the state board, said he was concerned about the federal government's role and said federal officials should look at Virginia's guidelines ``before they spend an excessive amount of time or taxpayer money'' on developing standards.
Ken Stroupe, a spokesman for Gov. George Allen, said, ``We can only hope they proceed cautiously and prudently.''
The state guidelines address the same issues Clinton raised Wednesday - making clear, for example, that students can bring Bibles to class and can pray in a nondisruptive way before meals or tests. Schools also can teach about religious history, including the Bible, and students can express their beliefs about religion in their school work.
In banning organized prayer from public schools in 1962, the Supreme Court outlawed school-sponsored prayer, not individual religious expression, officials said.
Leigh Hudson, a parent with children in Portsmouth schools, said she appreciated the attention being given to the religious rights of students at school.
``Everybody wants so many rights, it's like the Christians have none,'' Hudson said. ``I feel we've been stifled. We're supposed to be one nation under God and yet we can't talk about it. If all this is a clarification of the law, it should have been done a long time ago.''
KEYWORDS: PRAYER IN SCHOOL GUIDELINES by CNB