UPDATE:
I received a call from my school board member, Steph Horne, explaining that the board does not set policy regarding these types of activities, and that principals are informed and the gatekeeper for what happens on their campuses. Although this event has been taking place for years, she said that I brought up a good point that principals or other staff may interpret the governor’s recent “overstep” as superseding the existing policy and state law, and agreed that it would be a good idea if building staff were reminded of the existing policy so that they are empowered to enforce that policy, should the need arise. Policy states that the event is to take place during non-school hours and that it was to be student led. Nowhere in the communications I saw did it state that this was policy, and if it had, it would not have evoked the response it did from many of our members in our private group of 1,500 parents, teachers and community members.
Ms. Horne sent an email to Dr. Hargens asking that a reminder be sent to building staff. I consider that to be an appropriate and timely response, as requested in my original letter. Thank you Ms. Horne!
(This message has been revised based on feedback from community.)
In response to this message from our Governor, and concerns raised by Dear JCPS members in our private group (made up of over 1500 parents, teachers and community members), I sent the following message to our board members:
http://www.kentuckyfamily.org/?page_id=980
Dear JCPS,
I am confident that our board is aware that any adult-led prayer activity should be prohibited from taking place on any JCPS campus during school hours. In case the activity centered around a single religion isn’t non-inclusive enough, attached is a snapshot from the organization’s brochure, which further exacerbates misconceptions about other faiths, behaviors and lifestyles:
Prior to the Sept. 27 board meeting, Dear JCPS would like to know what steps the district intends to take to publicly and proactively disavow such an egregious overstep of the Governor’s authority. We are looking forward to your reply.
Thank you,
Gay
Gay Adelmann
Co-Founder, Dear JCPS
Founder, Save Our Schools KY
Charter Member, Network for Public Education
260-633-0463
