Atheist group follows through with lawsuit against Hall Co. Schools over coach-led prayer

GAINESVILLE - The American Humanist Association Appignani Humanist Legal Center is bringing a lawsuit against the Hall County School System, Superintendent Will Schofield and Chestatee High School Principal Suzanne Jarrard, over alleged coach- and teacher-led prayer within the school system, specifically at Chestatee.<br /> <br /> The complaint (see link below) says that the school system "has an ongoing policy, practice and custom of allowing its faculty, including coaches, to lead and participate in prayers with students during school-sponsored activities."<br /> <br /> It goes on to say that athletic coaches (of various sports including football, wrestling and baseball), teachers, band directors and student leaders all led other students in prayer during these school-sponsored activities.<br /> <br /> "When a coach or a teacher -- or anyone in an official capacity -- is on the job (at a public school), they are acting as a government agent, and government agents are not supposed to be participating in religious activity. The court cases are clear on this. It's not a close call," said David Niose, legal director for the group.<br /> <br /> In a letter to the school system on August 12 (see link below), the AHA wrote: "To avoid legal action, we kindly ask that you notify me in writing within two weeks of receipt of this letter setting forth the steps you will take to rectify this constitutional infringement."<br /> <br /> The school system conducted an investigation, and responded with a letter on August 26, outlining the steps they would be taking to make sure they were within the letter of the law.<br /> <br /> "Quite frankly, the response from the school system was rather dismissive," said Niose. "They didn't seem at all concerned. In fact, they said most of the things we were talking about happened long ago, which really wasn't the case."<br /> <br /> The AHA sent a second letter, saying they wanted to be taken more seriously. They say Hall County didn't respond to that letter at all, so legal action was the only alternative.<br /> <br /> "We have several individual citizens who have joined the suit as well. They come from different walks of life and different demographics," said Niose.<br /> <br /> Those citizens have remained anonymous.<br /> <br /> The AHA requests a permanent injunction that would effectively ban school officials "leading, initiating or participating in prayers with students at school sponsored activities and specifically at athletic games and practices and marching band practices and performances."<br /> <br /> "The school district should recognize, since we were so detailed in our complaints with the violations that are occurring, that this is not a case where they want to be defending their actions," said Niose.<br /> <br /> He says this case could go a number of ways, and that at this point that is up to the school system to decide.<br /> <br /> "If they just concede that there have been a lot of violations going on, and express a willingness to correct them, we could probably enter into some sort of consent decree that takes care of the problem," said Niose.<br /> <br /> They are also requesting "nominal damages" to the plaintiffs.<br /> <br /> Hall County School Superintendent Will Schofield said he learned of the legal action via the media. <br /> <br /> "This is a disappointing pattern that we have seen with this group in the past. Their desire to bring attention to their parochial interests is unfortunate," Schofield said in an email statement.<br /> <br /> "We will continue to focus on educating children and working with our Hall County parents and community to provide an appropriate education for our boys and girls."<br /> <br /> Later, Tuesday afternoon, the school system issued a response similar to the earlier statement released by Schofield. <br /> <br /> "I am encouraging each of our 3,300 staff and 28,000 students to keep a laser-like focus on the core mission of our district: Education," the statement said. "I can assure you that our Board and I will continue to work tirelessly to provide a safe and respectful environment that is conducive to accomplishing our goals of Character, Competency, and Rigor for All. Attempts to distract our district from our mission into supporting the efforts of special interest groups will always be discouraged."<br /> <br /> At the end of the statement, Schofield said matters pertaining to legal claims would be handled by the system's lawyer.<br /> <br /> <i>This story will be updated.</i>

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