Hannah Sparling

hsparling@newarkadvocate.com

Community members are planning a public prayer following Licking Valley's home football game Friday.

The event is in response to recent letters the Freedom From Religion Foundation sent the district.

Fans from both sides will be invited to pray together following the game.

HANOVER – Community members are planning a public prayer at Friday night's football game — a message to a nontheist group that sent two recent letters to Licking Valley Local Schools regarding separation of church and state.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation sent letters Sept. 23 and 30, alleging the district may have violated the constitution through potentially religious band T-shirts and a football-team prayer.

Friday night, community members are planning to meet at midfield to pray following the game between Licking Valley and Watkins Memorial High School. The invitation is open to players and fans from both sides, said Melanie Fitzgerald-Klein, the Newark resident helping organize the event.

"It's just a peaceful demonstration, just to say, 'You can send your letters, but there's a band of Christians that love the Lord and support their boys," Fitzgerald-Klein said. "... We just feel that since our coaches have been told they can't be on the field when the boys pray anymore, that our fans want to be."

Licking Valley Superintendent Dave Hile said he heard rumors about a possible community prayer but nothing official. Any plans are not school sponsored, Hile said, and from the district standpoint, safety is the No. 1 concern. Fans will not be allowed near the field until players and officials have exited, and even then, they likely would be relegated to the track area rather than the grass, Hile said.

"We don't really want anyone on the field," he said. "There's no reason for them to come on the field."

The FFRF is a Wisconsin-based nonprofit dedicated to promoting nontheism and defending the separation of religion and government nationwide. The Sept. 23 letter takes issue with T-shirts the LVHS marching band wore during a performance at the Millersport Sweet Corn Festival. The T-shirts are black with the word "Salvation" written in white, a reference to Pavel Tchesnokov's "Salvation is Created," the band's focal piece this year.

In the first letter, FFRF attorney Rebecca Markert argues that the shirts send the message to non-Christian students that they are outsiders, and that the school is usurping parental rights to direct religious upbringing.

Even if the shirts are only an allusion to the song, "such a display would be constitutionally objectionable," the letter states.

The second letter, sent Sept. 30, alleges high school football coach Randy Baughman participated in prayer with students during the 2013 season. The prayer appears to have been student-led, the letter states, but "We understand Coach Baughman and other members of the coaching staff bowed their heads and participated. We are concerned that this practice continues this season."

Markert told The Advocate in September that the primary goal is to rectify any constitutional violations and prevent them recurring. If the district refuses to cooperate, litigation may be an option, she said.

Hile said he has not responded to either letter and has not received any further communication from the FFRF.

The Valley football team prays in the center of the field after every game, always led by a student, Fitzgerald-Klein said. In the past, coaches have stood respectfully by, but now, it appears they will have to leave the field if students want to pray.

The plan Friday is for community members to fill that role, Fitzgerald-Klein said.

"We want to support our team when they decide to do something that's meaningful to them," she said. "I'm sure every boy on the team is not a Christian, but they do it out of respect for their teammates if one is leading a prayer, because they're a team.

"We don't want our school to be in trouble. We want them to follow what needs to be done (legally), but as a community, we want to stand together for our school and for God."

hsparling@newarkadvocate.com

740-328-8822

Twitter: @hksparling

If you go

• Community members are planning a public prayer Friday following the Licking Valley/Watkins Memorial football game, 100 Hainsview Drive NE, Newark.

• Event organizer Melanie Fitzgerald-Klein and her daughter designed shirts for the event. The shirts are white with red and blue lettering. "WE ARE LV," the front states, and on the back, a black cross and the words, "WE PRAY Salvation."

Shirts that were pre-ordered will be ready for Friday's game. Others who would like a shirt can make a request on Fitzgerald-Klein's Facebook page or stop by Millenium Styles salon, 409 South 22nd St., Heath, to place an order.