4 Teachers Told to Stop Leading Prayers : Simi Valley: Royal High principal says practice violates separation of church and state. Students protest the restrictions.

Simi Valley school officials have directed four teachers who serve as advisers to religious clubs at Royal High School to discontinue their practice of leading the student groups in prayer during noontime meetings.

On the advice of attorneys for the school district, Principal David Jackson recently informed teachers that leading any student group in prayer is unconstitutional and that such practices must end immediately. Jackson said several U. S. Supreme Court rulings prohibit teachers from leading, sponsoring or promoting such meetings or activities because the teachers are representatives of the state.

“This is a matter of separation of church and state,” he said.

Leslie Crunelle, the district’s curriculum director, said the Royal Christian Club and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes must also limit the number of times that they invite ministers to address the clubs during their lunchtime meetings. The clubs each have about 30 members.

Crunelle said all student clubs are permitted to invite speakers occasionally. But she said the Christian clubs in the past have invited ministers to speak to their groups on a regular basis, which may be another violation of the law.

“The student’s freedom of expression is only protected as long as these groups are student-initiated and student-led,” Crunelle said. “They cannot have youth ministers coming and working with them on a regular basis because they can be seen as an integral part of the group.”

Crunelle said other schools in the district, including Simi Valley High and Hillside Junior High, have religious clubs, but it is not known if there have been similar violations.

English teachers Don Funk and Vivian Abdallah serve as advisers to the Royal Christian Club. Bob Misko, a social science teacher, and Andy Andreolli, a physical education instructor, are advisers to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

Funk, who said he has been leading the Royal Christian Club in prayer on and off since it was formed, was disappointed that he can no longer do so.

“I was surprised because we’ve had the club for seven years and there has never been any repercussions,” he said. “I personally think it was an overreaction by the district.”

Senior Kathrin Hufford, a 17-year-old member of the Royal Christian Club, and three other students protested the club restrictions at Tuesday night’s school board meeting. Kathrin said she felt that the teachers’ First Amendment rights were being infringed.

“Our teachers should have the same rights as we do,” she said. “We feel they are being taken away.”

Tracy Winn, a staff attorney for the Virginia-based National Legal Foundation, which was founded by conservative Christian groups, said the students may be right.

She said that although the teachers may have led students in prayer, they did so on their lunch hour and thus were not acting in their capacity as teachers.

“This is really a gray area,” she said. “This is something that is still being litigated in the courts.”

Jackson said he talked to teachers at his school about the law regarding religious activities on campus after attending a recent conference on First Amendment issues organized by the school district’s lawyers.

He said students in the Christian clubs have come to him and complained about the new restrictions. The principal said he told the students that they should take their complaints to the school board.

“They are great kids,” he said. “We are trying to teach them that if they want change, they have to go through the proper procedures.”