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By SHARON KILPATRICK
Rappahannock News Staff Writer
There was no student led invocation at the beginning of the Rappahannock County High School graduation ceremony Saturday morning nor any student led benediction at the end.
This was because of a U.S. Supreme Court decision last year. School Superintendent David Gangel said that acting on “legal advice” he had made the decision not to have prayers at graduation.
He said he had been contacted by the ACLU and the New York Times about county plans for prayer at graduation. Dr. Gangel added also that last Monday the Supreme Court had “refused to hear a case” appealing a decision in a lower court in Texas that allowed student led prayers at graduation ceremonies. He said the decision not to review the case leaves that court decision in place in that circuit, which includes much of the South but not Virginia.
He said he personally believed the decision to ban prayers at graduation was “despicable.”
School Board Chairman Beverly Massie agreed. “I think it’s a sad state of affairs,” she said. “We do not have the money to defend a suit. Any extra money should go to curriculum. ”
Dr. Gangel noted that Loudoun County is challenging the prayer ban with student led prayers at high school graduations in
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