Every school day, Gladewater ISD students are invited to take a moment to pause and, if they wish, to pray.
That won’t change.
Monday night, GISD trustees considered and, ultimately, voted down a new policy handed down from on high in Austin. In particular, local elected officials opted to follow Supt. Rae Ann Patty’s recommendation to put Senate Bill 11 to the side and stick with the open SOP here.
“We have always allowed students to pray in schools when they want to. We have never told a child ‘No, you cannot pray,’ or ‘No, you cannot have your quiet time,'” Patty said. “We just want to continue the way we’ve been going.
“We have a moment of silence every day in our schools. It’s an appropriate amount of time for them to sit, reflect, meditate, pray, whatever they want to do.”
TOP: Gladewater ISD Trustee Rickie Blackmon votes on an issue Monday evening. A motion from Blackmon, seconded by Garth Cockerell, was approved 6-0 (with board president Chris Thompson absent) to vote down the adoption of a new ‘daily prayer time’ policy set out by state legislators in Senate Bill 11. Instead, Gladewater ISD will continue providing students with the same broad opportunities for prayer and reflection.
Under the 89th Legislature’s SB 11, elected officials at Texas school districts (as well as open-enrollment charter schools) have until March 1 to give their public thumbs up or down on policies that would build a time of prayer and/or the reading of religious texts during the school day.
It was a unanimous ‘No, thank you’ from GISD as trustee Rickie Blackmon’s motion, seconded by Garth Cockerell was approved 6-0 (in the absence of board president) in a rare vote in favor of denying an issue. There was no trustee discussion prior to the vote.
Under SB11, Patty noted, the school would be required to provide a formal space and opportunity for prayer or reflection before school. Administrators would have to obtain parent permission for students to use the space and track student use via sign-in sheets.
“I am for vetoing this,” Patty reiterated moments before. “What I would like to do is continue with what we already do on the campuses… They can pray. We can still have student-led prayer. They can have See You At the Pole.
Choosing to vote down the 89th Legislature’s policy will, hopefully, prevent potential bullying behavior tied to children exercising their faith, Patty added.
“It allows students to opt in without being singled out to go to another location,” Patty said. When the central issue is making space for students’ personal beliefs, “If we’re already doing it, why would we change that?
“We’ve never had a problem since I’ve been here. When I spoke to the different administrators on campus, there’s not been a problem with it… No one has been denied their religious freedoms. We just want to maintain that here at the local level.”