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School board to ignore state moment-of-silence law

Ohanian Comment: I don't know, but calling for a moment of prayer by any other name still seems like a moment of prayer. And I would think that people who want their children to pray would take care of this at home, making sure that such prayer is conducted in a manner they deem appropriate.

I would not put schools in charge of my children's spiritual needs any more than I would put schools in charge of their health or nutritional needs.

Kudos to the Evanston-Skokie school board.


By Deborah Horan

Evanston-Skokie School District 65 will ignore new legislation mandating a moment of silence in Illinois public schools after trying unsuccessfully to seek a waiver that would free the district from following the law, board members said.

After discussing it Monday night, five of the school board's seven members agreed the board should not force teachers in the district's 16 elementary and middle schools to observe the law, they said.

"We have no intention of either prohibiting or forcing compliance," said board member Katie Bailey.

It is unclear what steps, if any, the state might take to force the district to comply with the law. The legislation does not provide penalties for non-compliance nor offer guidelines on how to deal with schools -- or in this case school boards -- that choose to ignore it.

Kimberly Lightford (D-Maywood), a sponsor of the legislation, called District 65's decision to ignore the law "unfortunate" but said she was unclear about options for enforcement.

"That's what I'm trying to find out now," Lightford said. She had hoped educators would welcome the moment of silence as a way to help improve school discipline and reduce violence.

The school board's decision to ignore the law has left teachers and principals at schools in Evanston and Skokie with little guidance on how -- or even whether -- to direct students to observe the moment of silence. Many of them said they opted to do nothing until further notice.

"I'm waiting for my bosses to tell me how to implement this," said Gordon Hood, the principal of Nichols Middle School. "I don't want to move forward until I'm instructed what to do."

The board had asked the district superintendent to look into the possibility of applying for a waiver but discovered that option is not available unless the State Board of Education incorporates the law into the Illinois School Code, board members said.

The state board, though, has no plans to do so because the legislation did not require it, state board spokesman Matt Vanover said.

The loophole means educators must comply with a law that is poorly defined, leaving teachers open to lawsuits and students vulnerable to teachers who might use the moment to promote prayer, said state Sen. Jeff Schoenberg (D-Evanston).

On Oct. 18, Schoenberg sent letters to 17 school systems in his legislative district, which stretches from northern Chicago to Glencoe, calling on school districts to apply for a waiver on grounds that the law represents "undue interference in the ability of teachers to manage their own classrooms."

"Right now school districts across the state lack formal guidelines for how to follow this new law," Schoenberg said. "[Legislators] deliberately wrote the bill so that it was not directly part of the school code so there's no [possibility to seek a waiver]."

It was unclear whether any other districts that received Schoenberg's letter tried to obtain a waiver. Glenview District 34, which started the moment of silence immediately after the law was passed in mid-October, may discuss the waiver issue at its Nov. 19 board meeting, said district spokesman Brett Clark.

Supporters of the moment of silence legislation have said it would help teachers control the classroom, keep boisterous students calm and give students a chance to reflect before the school day.

Evanston-Skokie board members opposed to the moment of silence said they felt it would place a burden on teachers and cause tension between educators and students, or their parents.

"It sets up an unnecessary intrusion into the classroom," said board member Mary Rita Luecke.

Luecke said she suspects some supporters of the new law really want a moment of prayer but are settling for a moment of silence.

"This is really being encouraged by people who are trying to bring prayer into school," she said.

— Deborah Horan
Chicago Tribune
2007-11-08


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