SOUTH HAVEN —

The

announced today that it was pleased with the decision by

to revise the districts’ policies on religious instruction in school.

“We are encouraged that the school recognized that parents, not public schools, are responsible for deciding when and whether their children receive religious education," James Rodbard, ACLU of Michigan cooperating attorney,

.

"South Haven schools have taken the first steps to creating an environment where students of all faiths feel comfortable and protected from religious coercion by school volunteers and employees,” Rodbard added.

The ACLU of Michigan initially became involved with South Haven Public Schools on behalf of a South Haven High School student in 2009.

In a letter to the district, the ACLU of Michigan asked South Haven Superintendent Bob Black to put an end to the practice of allowing a school volunteer, who was also a pastor at a local church, to encourage students at the middle school and high school levels during instructional time to become active with the church.

After working with the ACLU, the Michigan Association of School Boards and legal counsel, South Haven Public Schools approved revised policies regarding religious instruction last fall, effective immediately.

“We had some policies before, but they were very vague and didn’t really set down any guidelines,” Black said. “And I think we set down some good guidelines with these new policies.”

The old policies had been in place since the early 2000s, Black noted, and he pointed to recent case law that helped lead the school board to develop more descriptive language.

Black stated the school volunteer remained affiliated with the school but “we just better delineated, in our policies, that line.”

One issue, the superintendent stated, was that the previous policies only explicitly applied to school staff and employees, not to volunteers. That oversight, Black said, has been corrected under the revised policies.

Other changes include specific language that religious material is allowed inside the classroom for historical or cultural studies of religion, but “such material is prohibited if used to indoctrinate the practice of a religion.”