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Other schools in the district may also have students recite the Lord’s Prayer, and some sing God Save the Queen, but the district doesn’t know which ones, associate superintendent Rick Hayes said. The decision is made school by school, and sometimes classroom by classroom, in consultation with parents, he said.

‘That chant we say at school’

The concerned parents are unconvinced that consultation is happening.

Barnsley-Cervo first learned about the ritual three years ago when her son was in kindergarten.

They were watching TV when he said, “Oh mum, that sounds like the chant we say at school.”

When she figured out it was the Lord’s Prayer, she was unimpressed.

“This feels like they’re trying to hide this from me,” she said.

Although Barnsley-Cervo told her friend Goode about the practice, Goode was taken aback one morning when she showed up late for school and a teacher’s assistant frantically ushered her son into class so he’d be ready to recite the prayer.

“I felt initially like it was a bit underhanded. Why are they not notifying us that this is occurring in a public school setting?” Goode said.

Although district policy allows parents to exempt their children from religious activities, neither had asked, because they didn’t want their children to feel singled out.

Hayes said teachers are “creative” with exempted students, and may have them take attendance sheets to the office, or devise another way to prevent students from feeling excluded.