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Bill Bosher
Richmond Times Dispatch
(Reprinted with Permission)
March 12, 2000
The 2000 Session of the General Assembly of Virginia again
is the forum for debate over the issue of “A Moment of
Silence” in public schools. While the Code of Virginia
permits local school boards to establish a moment of silence
for “meditation, prayer, or other silent activity,”
many legislators believe that school boards and superintendents
are hesitant to do so because of threats of litigation. The
question now is, whether the Commonwealth of Virginia should
assume the authority that it granted previously to local school
boards and require the observation of a moment of silence
in all public schools.
The 1994 General Assembly directed the Board of Education,
in consultation with the Attorney General, to develop guidelines
on constitutional rights and restrictions relating to religious
expression in public schools. In June 1995 the Board approved
guidelines that set guidelines for religious activities. Those
guidelines include the authority to establish a “Moment
of Silence.”
THE DEBATE thus focuses on two issues: Should students be
permitted to pray in a forum called a “Moment of Silence”
and should the General Assembly require this if all students
across the Commonwealth or leave this decision to local school
boards?
Public schools, by their very nature, should not be used
to foster a particular religious dogma or faith. In like terms,
public schools also should protect the rights of young people
and their teachers to acknowledge who and what they are, including
their faith, as a matter of free speech. There is certainly
a distinction between a prescription to pray, such as requiring
that every student recite the Lord’s Prayer, and permission
to pray through a “Moment of Silence.” Has the defense
of one tenet of the First Amendment, the Establishment Clause,
taken on such magnitude that it obscures the presence of another,
free speech? Using public schools to proselytize students
constitutes an abuse of this forum; however, to pretend that
student and staff beliefs must be left at the school door
fosters shallow relationships.
It seems that many supporters of the First Amendment would
open the schools to any language or image except those that
might infer a personal faith. Some legal advisers even suggest
that a school official should not attend nor, certainly, speak
at a community-initiated baccalaureate. If this is true, then
when must a teacher, principal, or superintendent cease to
teach a Sunday school class or speak in the Synagogue for
fear that a student might see him or her and infer the presence
of faith?
Local autonomy is one of the most important concepts in Virginia
governance. Decisions are thought to be best when they are
local. If local school boards have authority that they are
not using, then should the pressure to change school policies
come from the state? Some supporters of local autonomy even
use the doctrine selectively, asserting that local boards
should make local decisions until the wrong decision is made.
The call then is for the state to intervene and mandate the
right decision. That is a difficult standard to hold when
principles are at issue, but perhaps it is the consistent
political high ground.
The General Assembly debate over the issue may be far less
about prayer and more about public participation. Many schools
in Virginia begin each day with a Pledge of Allegiance and
a Moment of Silence. These activities enable students to understand
the importance of citizenship as well as to commit one minute
to a quiet start or personal prayer for the day. Perhaps the
debate should move away from the legislature where the practice
is already authorized, and away from the Board of Education
which has established guidelines for its implementation.
The debate in reality should move to homes, businesses, churches,
synagogues, and community centers where the question should
ring: “When will we discuss the merits of a “Moment
of Silence” for our young people?”
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