THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 10, 1994 TAG: 9412100218
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B01 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VANEE VINES, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines
The School Board voted reluctantly Thursday to prohibit student groups, such as choruses, from performing as part of religious services.
The measure was approved on a 5-2 vote.
The new policy, however, does not specifically say students cannot perform in churches. Requests that raise red flags will be considered on a case-by-case basis, said Joyce Trump, an assistant superintendent.
In the past, student groups have performed in churches, a practice still common in most school districts across the state. But Wendell M. Waller, the board's attorney, said many educators may be on shaky ground.
Suffolk's previous policy did not address the issue. The new policy emerged when a board subcommittee reviewed the district's policy on school/community relations. The subcommittee hesitantly endorsed the new policy.
Board members agonized about any move that might make churches off-limits to school choruses at a time when educators and parents typically view as a plus anything students can contribute to the community.
``I just think we still need to think through the issue to see whether we're doing a justice or injustice to the students,'' said Lorraine Skeeter who, along with the board's vice chairman, the Rev. Mark Croston, voted against the measure.
Waller, who also is pastor of Suffolk's Christian Home Baptist Church, urged the board to accept the new policy to place the district on firm legal ground. He said his recommendation was based on guidelines from the Virginia School Boards Association in Charlottesville.
If a group of students - representing the district - were to perform in a church, Waller argued, the performance more than likely would be part of a worship service.
``At the present time,'' he said, ``that is not the law of the land.''
Trump had delayed a decision on at least one request from a school chorus to perform at a church this weekend because, she said, she couldn't predict how the board would vote Thursday.
Officials of other school districts - Chesapeake, Hampton, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach - said they had no rules prohibiting student groups from singing voluntarily in churches.
J. Frank Sellew, a Norfolk deputy superintendent, said student groups in that city have performed in churches and continue to do so.
``Our kids are members of the public and churches are a forum,'' Sellew said Friday.
``They're not performing for religious purposes, but as a school group. We try to use good judgment,'' he added, explaining that, in the past, he has reviewed songs beforehand to make sure particular religious values weren't being imposed on students.
In some districts, the decision on where a group performs is sometimes left up to a principal.
Dale Kittle, instrumental-music director at Suffolk's Lakeland High, asked the board to reject the new policy, saying it could weaken community ties. A student member of Lakeland's singing group presented the board with signed petitions from students opposed to the change.
``I understand that the board has to uphold the laws of the land,'' Kittle said Friday. ``However, schools are community-supported, and when we draw ourselves away from the community, we're going to lose its support.''
The Virginia School Boards Association relies on the so-called ``Lemon Test'' when determining whether a public school is illegally engaging in an activity that violates the separation of church and state.
Waller said that test had to be used in the case of school choruses performing in churches.
Among other factors, the legal test measures whether a policy, procedure or action promotes religion or shows ``entanglement'' in a religious activity.
Church performances, Waller said, appear to violate at least those two parts of the legal test.
``The song is not the problem. The place is not necessarily the problem,'' he said. ``The problem is the context in which the songs are sung.''
Waller said he would find out whether other school districts have come up with a policy that allows student groups to perform in churches, but still doesn't break the law.
The board didn't give Waller a deadline. He said he probably wouldn't complete the task before Christmas. by CNB