Just how far state law should go to protect students' religious expression at school is under debate at the Statehouse, tied to a bill that supporters hope will clarify the issue for school officials. Current law allows a district to limit the exercise of a student's religion to lunch periods or other non-instructional time when students are free to associate. A House committee has started hearings on a bill that would eliminate that restriction.

Just how far state law should go to protect students� religious expression at school is under debate at the Statehouse, tied to a bill that supporters hope will clarify the issue for school officials.

Current law allows a district to limit the exercise of a student�s religion to lunch periods or other non-instructional time when students are free to associate. A House committee has started hearings on a bill that would eliminate that restriction.

Instead, House Bill 425 says students may engage in religious expression �before, during, and after school hours � to the same extent that a student is permitted to engage in secular activities.�

The bill defines religious expression as prayer, religious gatherings, distribution of written materials or any other religious activity, such as wearing symbolic clothing or expressing a religious viewpoint that is not obscene or vulgar.

Districts now are allowed to provide for a moment of silence each day for a prayer, although no student may be required to participate. Districts also may not stop a teacher from providing time for activities of a �moral, philosophical or patriotic theme.�

Kelly Haight, a 2015 graduate of Hilliard Davidson High School who led a religious student group called Faith, told a House committee that the group hired legal counsel to help in its fight against the district to be recognized as an official school club.

�We were denied the status due to the religious nature of the group,� she said, adding that the group also needed legal counsel so it could use the school�s auditorium to hold a baccalaureate, a religious ceremony held as a prelude to graduation.

The school agreed to allow the baccalaureate, Haight said, and in this school year, Faith is going to be part of the yearbook and the list of school clubs.

�I think it wasn�t clear to them what was allowed and what wasn�t allowed,� she said of district officials.

Over the years, the ACLU of Ohio has been involved in a number of school/religion flare-ups, both in defending students� rights and in pushing schools to take religion out of their buildings and activities.

Much of the bill largely reiterates what is already protected by the First Amendment, including the ability to pray and wear certain clothing or symbols, said Gary Daniels, chief lobbyist for the ACLU of Ohio.

But Daniels questions a provision that prohibits a school from restricting or penalizing a student�s religious expression when completing homework or other assignments.

�If the purpose is to ensure schools aren�t willy-nilly punishing students for expressing religious beliefs, that�s one thing,� Daniels said. The bill's language appears broader than that, he said.

He can see the issue popping up in science classes.

�If a teacher in a biology class is talking about the evolutionary processes that govern different forms of life, and a student disagrees and submits a paper that the Earth has only been in existence for 10,000 years and Adam and Eve were the first humans, it�s an open question under this bill if a school can dock a student a grade by saying this is not science,� Daniels said.

David Tryon, a lawyer and former president of the Brecksville-Broadview Heights Board of Education in northeastern Ohio, wrote to legislators that the bill could be seen as superfluous because students already have rights to religious expression and to form clubs. However, he said, his board had a �certain degree of disdain� for religious expression.

�There is a perception among school-board members, administrators, teachers and even students that the types of expression explicitly protected by (the bill) are currently not allowed,� he said. �This bill would correct this misconception and give � clear guidance that religious expression is allowed in school.�

jsiegel@dispatch.com

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