Beaver Area High School

The principal of this school flat-out told Moriah Bridges that prayer – even student-led prayer – is not permissible by federal law. (Which is incorrect. The separation of church and state is not actually in the constitution.) Secondly, the vague concept of it applies to "not establishing a state religion"- it doesn't mean kids can't express their own religious views. It just means the state can't say "these are the official views of the school". Third, schools have no problem showing MUSLIM views, do they? They just suddenly mention the "separation of church and state" when a CHRISTIAN wants to talk. Convenient. “I was shocked that the school said my personal remarks broke the law and I was saddened that I could not draw upon my Christian identity to express my best wishes for my classmates on what should’ve been the happiest day of high school,” Moriah said. Moriah abided by the school district’s edict – and then she contacted First Liberty Institute, one of the nation’s top religious liberty law firms. “The last lesson this school district taught its students is that they should hide their religious beliefs from public view,” First Liberty Institute attorney Jeremy Dys told me. “That fails the test of the First Amendment.” It wasn’t Moriah who broke the law, it was the school district, Dys said. “In short, school officials – in violation of the First Amendment – forced Moriah to censor her personal remarks during the closing exercise of her commencement ceremony merely because of the religious viewpoint of her remarks,” the attorney said. “Because of Dr. Rowe’s instructions, Moriah was muzzled and restrained by school officials on the penultimate day of her high school career.” The U.S. Department of Education has a long-standing policy regarding student speech – a policy that covers graduation cermeonies. “Where students or other private graduation speakers are selected on the basis of genuinely neutral, evenhanded criteria and retain primary control over the content of their expression, however, that expression is not attributable to the school and therefore may not be restricted because of its religious (or anti-religious) content,” the policy reads. Dys is calling for a meeting with school officials – but so far they have not responded. The school district’s suggestion that Moriah should offer wishes or hopes for her fellow graduates is ludicrous. Moriah was not praying to some sort of fairy godmother. She was praying to Almighty God. Ironically, by refusing to allow a student to pray in the name of Jesus Christ, the school district excluded the Christian religion. But these days excluding Christianity to achieve inclusiveness is a standing operating procedure on high school campuses.
1 8 years ago (15-06-2017)

Very nice staff and class options
5 7 years ago (20-01-2018)

Horrid educational techniques
1 7 years ago (01-07-2017)

Terrible school district and administration/ staff.
1 7 years ago (23-10-2017)