Homewood Middle resolves complaints of ‘religious entanglements’

Homewood Middle School has made several changes after receiving a complaint letter about “religious entanglements” from the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) in October.

The letter reported several “constitutional violations” for mixing public schools with religion that were reported by a “concerned district family.” The school’s attorney responded to FFRF to report that the violations had been resolved, according to a Feb. 4 release from FFRF.

The FFRF’s first allegations was that the school had "team chaplains" for its football teams, including one who prayed and delivered a sermon before a weekly team meal. They also took issue with local churches having access to students at lunchtime and being allowed to “circulate through the lunchroom trying to recruit students” and First Priority Club, a Christian group, meeting before school, using a loud speaker and being led by a teacher each Wednesday in the gym. Students are required to congregate in the gym if they arrive at school before class. At FPC's meetings, a local youth pastor led a worship service over an amplified loudspeaker, audible to the captive audience in the gym.

In response, HCS changed the position of football team chaplains to "team sponsors," who are "to deliver encouraging messages to the players regarding morals and character, not sermons." The systems also said lunchtime visitors will not be permitted to “proselytize.” The First Priority Club's meetings were moved to a classroom, and a faculty monitor who does not participate in the club is the only adult present at meetings.

"We're pleased that the school district has taken our First Amendment concerns seriously, and we will be monitoring the situation," FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor said.

Merrick Wilson of Homewood City Schools released the following statement regarding the situation: “Homewood City Schools is happy to work with any person or group that has questions regarding our schools. As education and learning are the most important responsibility of our schools, it is vital that we work with different groups of our community to build honest and effective communication.”

A year ago, FFRF had addressed Homewood Middle about Men Striving for Success, a group organized by teacher Steve Sills. As a result, the school re-organized the club to be service-based.