MOORPARK : Guidelines for School Prayer Proposed

Taking a cue from a local pastor and from President Clinton, Moorpark school board member Tom Baldwin is proposing a set of guidelines for religious expression at school.

“I attend a conservative church, and we always hear about how our public schools are godless places and that’s just not true,” Baldwin said. “It’s a real common way to batter the schools, but people should realize that students have religious rights and privileges at school. It’s not an atheistic wasteland.”

The proposed guidelines, based on existing laws, reaffirm a student’s right to say grace before meals on campus, pray individually or to pray in informal groups as long as they do not cause a disruption at school. Student religious clubs, like any other extracurricular activity, are also permitted to meet on campus during non-instructional time.

In August, the Clinton Administration issued similar school prayer guidelines, which some political observers suggest were meant to head off a constitutional amendment calling for school prayer. Recently each member of the school board also received a letter from a local pastor urging the board to review students’ religious rights in public school.

Baldwin, who belongs to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said he would also like to reassure residents that the guidelines were not meant to proselytize or promote any particular religious belief.

Other school board members have not yet had a chance to review the four pages of guidelines that Baldwin says will delineate a pupil’s religious rights but steer clear of permitting such things as organized prayer at graduation ceremonies or other school events where a captive audience would be compelled to participate.

The school board is expected to discuss the guidelines at a meeting Tuesday.