Heads bowed at the 50 yard line, on a snow-covered field two days after Thanksgiving, the Kirtland Hornets and the Ottawa Glandorf Titans, players and coaches, gathered together to pray.
Heads bowed at the 50 yard line on a snow-covered field two days after Thanksgiving, the Kirtland Hornets and the Ottawa Glandorf Titans, players and coaches, gathered together to pray.
It was just moments after a game in which the Hornets rode roughshod over the Titans 28-6, claiming their 55th straight win.
And for one agnostic Kirtland parent, that prayer crossed the line.
He had overlooked small stuff in the past. But said religion began to “steamroll” into team functions throughout the 2021 season.
“This year it just felt like it was a new level,” he said.
At a mandatory football pep rally and team dinner, it was reported, a priest gave a sermon and said a prayer with the coaches and administrators involved.
“He said some pretty out-there stuff,” the parent said.
Head Coach Tiger LaVerde also began leading the team in the Lord’s Prayer before every game, either in the locker room or the end zone.
It was after the post-playoff game prayer, though, that the parent, who declined to be named for fear of reprisal to his agnostic son, a football player, notified the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), a Wisconsin-based organization that promotes the separation of church and state.
“I think the First Amendment is crucial,” the parent said. “During the prayer, (my son) felt uncomfortable.”
In response, the FFRF addressed a letter to both schools’ superintendents.
In it, Karen M. Heineman, a lawyer with the FFRF, stated, “Public schools may not advance, prefer, or promote religion,” and cited multiple U.S. Supreme Court opinions.
“Public school coaches must refrain not only from leading prayers, but also from participating in students’ prayers or organizing student-led prayer,” Heineman continued. “Coach LaVerde’s conduct is unconstitutional because he endorses and promotes his religion when acting in his official capacity as a school district employee. He cannot lead his team in prayer and he cannot organize or advocate for students to lead team prayer either. He cannot force players to listen to sermons and prayers in exchange for being on the team. Coaches speak to a captive audience and cannot discriminate by coercing students to pray to play.”
LeVerde did not return an emailed request for comment.
But Kirtland Superintendent Chad VanArnhem did.
“The Kirtland Local Schools takes its legal obligations seriously under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,” VanArnhem wrote. “In that vein, the District complies with the requirements set forth in the Establishment Clause; it has not, does not, and will not adopt any policy or rule respecting or promoting an establishment of religion.
“The District has investigated the claims and took action to ensure that it continues to meet the parameters of the Establishment Clause.”
Ottawa Glandorf Superintendent Don Horstman responded directly to the FFRF.
“I have addressed this with Coach Schriner, and I have had two conversations with him about student vs. staff led prayer, and staff involvement or participation,” Horstman wrote. “I will also state that our coaches did not lead the prayer, but rather were walking up to address the players on a well played and very sportsmanlike performance.
“I do not anticipate the need to further address this with him moving forward, as he will be taking the proper action to correct this in the future.”
This past January, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case out of the state of Washington involving an assistant football coach who refused to stop praying with players on the 50-yard line and was eventually fired by the district.
The school district ordered Joe Kennedy to stop praying. But Kennedy announced that he would not comply, prompting a large gathering of people – including parents, a state legislator, and members of both teams – to stand in solidarity with him after an October 2015 game, according to a Supreme Court blog.
The case has not yet been scheduled for oral argument, but is expected to be decided this term.
Photo: This post on the “Friends of Kirtland, Ohio” Facebook page was included in a complaint by a Kirtland parent that the school district, through its coaches, was promoting prayer on the football team.
