This time it’s at Aplington-Parkersburg (Iowa) High School.
In 2021 it was Coach Joe Kennedy at Bremerton (Washington) High School. Kennedy (shown in two photos) won his court case, but upon his return was belittled by the school administration and ultimately chose to resign.
At Aplington-Parkersburg, someone snapped a picture recently of coaches praying with the varsity football team on the field after a game.
A citizen complained after the image was posted on Facebook, according to Memphis-based host Todd Starnes.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation got involved. They are an anti-Christian atheist group based in Wisconsin.
The group sent a letter to the district's Superintendent Travis Fleshner. The letter is signed by Legal Fellow Hirsh Joshi.In it, the coaches are accused of violating federal law, saying in part "Government actors, like (a coach) may not lead prayer over a captive audience.”
The letter says the coach "appears” to be leading students in prayer, and is therefore violating the Establishment Clause.
Keisha Russell is Legal Counsel with First Liberty Institute.
She said in an interview with AFN she does not put much stock behind claims from the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
"It's hard to know without being there what the exact facts are. I would never trust the Freedom from Religion Foundation to either recite the facts or the law correctly, because we've seen that their legal analysis is often very flawed. But without knowing more, I can say that it's generally OK for the school to say that coaches can't pray with players or lead players in prayer in a high school or a middle school or something like that,” she said.
Amid the chaos, coaches have rights.
“Obviously, the coach still has his free exercise rights to pray, and the students can pray, but the coach can't force students to pray with him,” Russell said.
Russell said she has seen cases like this before, and the conclusion is that coaches cannot lead students in prayer. The students must do it on their own.
If a coach walks to a private space to pray, and students voluntarily follow him to the same space and also pray, there has been no Establishment Clause violation.
Superintendent responds
Superintendent Travis Fleshner wrote a letter to the atheists.
In the letter he said, "Effective immediately, Aplington-Parkersburg football coaches will not lead or ask student-athletes to participate in team prayer. If team prayer occurs, it will be entirely student-led, with no participation or promotion by coaches, and coaches will not encourage or invite athletes to attend any religious events."
