'See You At The Pole' on Wednesday
by Allie Martin
September 26, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A law firm that protects the constitutional rights of Christians says public school officials nationwide should be aware that students have a constitutional right to pray during "See You At The Pole" observances on Wednesday.Tomorrow (Sept. 27) millions of students will gather around their school flagpoles for SYATP rallies. The students will pray for their schools, fellow classmates, teachers, the nation, and the world. The now annual observance began in 1990 when a group of high school students in Burleson, Texas, gathered spontaneously around their school flagpole to pray for their classmates who did not have a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Students around the country have typically met with resistance from school officials who are not educated about constitutional rights. Anita Staver is president of Liberty Counsel, a firm that has defended many of those students -- and encourages others who encounter resistance to contact the firm immediately. She explains that students do not lose their religious freedoms when they step onto school grounds.
"The students certainly have the constitutional right to gather around their flagpoles and pray together, and we just encourage the students to do this," says Staver, who emphasizes the observance is neither parent- nor teacher-led. "Certainly teachers and parents can go in other places and gather together and pray, but this is specifically a student-initiated, student-led event -- and we think it's wonderful that the students will be gathering together and revival can break out across the land led by these youth," she says.
The rallies, which annually number in the thousands and typically occur early in the day, before classes begin, fall well within constitutional guidelines, adds Staver. And that, she stresses, is something school administrators need to know.
"There is a lot of ignorance [regarding students' religious rights], especially on behalf of school officials," she says. "And sometimes the school officials have to take affirmative action in order to educate themselves about the students' First Amendment rights, rather than just acting out of bias or ignorance."
The U.S. Department of Education's "Guidelines on Religious Expression in Public Schools" states that students have a right to take part in SYATP as a protected act of religious expression.
The theme for this year's "See You At The Pole" observance is "Be Still. Know God." The event's official website (http://www.syatp.org) encourages students to submit online reports about what happened at their school.
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
