A woman is alleging that her daughter has been required to attend Prayer Club at Chapmanville Middle, a public school.
The parent, who didn’t wish to be named to avoid identifying her daughter, also alleges that the principal told teachers to keep her daughter and her daughter’s girlfriend separated in class.
The allegations are in a letter from the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation to Logan County Schools Superintendent Patricia Lucas.
“Our complainant reports [that] this club is run by teachers and outside adults, who regularly preach at club meetings and lead students in prayer,” wrote foundation attorney Christopher Line. “It is our understanding that one of these outside adults, Ira Holland, has been allowed to talk to students during social studies class, discussing mental health, but also occasionally discussing religion.”
Principal Michelle Podunavac denied that the school has separated the couple any more than straight couples. She said the school doesn’t allow public displays of affection by anyone.
She also said Holland’s “Character Under Construction” presentations in social studies aren’t religious, that Prayer Club is voluntary and is led by students.
Podunavac also initially said Holland “has nothing to do with our Prayer Club at all.”
However, videos provided to the Gazette-Mail show a man, resembling Holland but wearing a mask, preaching to students and leading prayer in a gym. After a Christian prayer, he asks students to raise their hands.
“And nobody look around, just let me know, ‘Preacher, I just asked the Lord to save me,’ ” the man says.
After being sent the videos, Podunavac confirmed that it was Holland and said she had not been aware he participated.
She said student club officers can invite adult speakers from outside the school, and teachers must sign off on them. She said the teachers themselves don’t speak.
Character Under Construction is a program of the Tennessee-based Rock of Ages Ministries Inc. Rock of Ages’ website says it believes the Authorized King James Version of the Bible is “the Word of God, without error.”
The Character Under Construction site has a frequently-asked-questions page that says it isn’t a religious class.
“For role models, we use highly motivating stories from the lives of some of America’s best loved heroes,” the site says in its curriculum section.
“We also make reference to and quote some of America’s best known literary writers, as well as widely known Biblical stories and values to instill positive character traits,” the site says. “Other books and stories of historical significance that encourage positive values and virtues will also be used to round out a well-balanced curriculum.”
A man answering a number ascribed to Holland declined comment. Jeff Bellamy, with Rock of Ages Ministries, said the program doesn’t preach in public schools.
“That’s illegal,” Bellamy said. “We don’t do that. You can’t do that in the classrooms, because of the governmental laws.”
He said Biblical stories are used in Character Under Construction only if they are historical, proven facts. He deferred further questions to a lawyer, who didn’t respond Thursday afternoon.
Podunavac said social studies teacher Justin Baisden had used Character Under Construction at other schools and brought the program to her. She said she thoroughly reviewed the proposed presentations and “there were no Biblical stories.”
Baisden is a preacher outside of school. Before deferring comment to the superintendent, he said he’s a sponsor of the Prayer Club and that it’s held before school.
Lucas deferred comment to Podunavac. The Gazette-Mail provided Lucas and Podunavac with copies of the letter to read and respond to; the Freedom From Religion Foundation said it emailed the letter to Lucas, but Lucas said she had yet to receive it from the organization.
Podunavac said the school doors open at 7:10 a.m. but classes start at 7:25 a.m., and Prayer Club is held in that interim. She denied the letter’s allegation that an English teacher is forcing students in her homeroom class to go.
The letter says that, “even if this club was moved before or after school, it is illegally organized and run by teachers and outside adults. Any religious clubs must be student initiated and student-led during non-instructional time. The District must also ensure it is not discriminating against any of its students on the basis of sex, including by imposing restrictions on students’ ability to associate with and talk with other students based on their LGBT status.”
The letter quotes from a federal law that says public middle and high schools generally can’t deny “a fair opportunity to, or discriminate against, any students who wish to conduct a meeting within that limited open forum on the basis of the religious, political, philosophical or other content of the speech at such meetings.”
For it to be a “fair opportunity” for students, the law says the meeting must be voluntary, it must be “student-initiated,” school employees must be present “only in a nonparticipatory capacity” if the meeting is religious and “nonschool persons” may not “regularly attend.”
