D. Scott Hickam, attorney for the Lake Hamilton School District, has determined that an advocacy group's constitutional objections to including a prayer at the district's monthly school board meetings are "substantially correct."
The district recently removed prayer as an item on its standard agenda after a parent contacted the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which then contacted the district through Hickam.
The foundation argued in a letter to Hickam that praying at school board meetings violates the constitutional requirement of religious neutrality in public schools.
During the last two meetings, the board has continued to say a prayer at the start of the meeting, though it is not on the standard agenda.
"All attorneys would prefer to tell their client what they would like to hear," Hickam said in a statement emailed to the newspaper.
"Undoubtedly, the members of Lake Hamilton School Board strongly wish to begin its agenda with a prayer. However, my job is not to tell my clients what they want to hear, but is to offer advice on sometimes complex legal issues and assist them in conducting school matters in a manner compliant with law," he said.
Video not playing? Click here https://www.youtube.com/embed/9IOq_-l47XU
Hickam said he is "not inclined to 'knuckle under' every time a patron threatens litigation or 'buy in' to the positions of advocacy groups."
"I don't necessarily agree with everything stated in the letter from Freedom From Religion Foundation on behalf of a patron, but in my opinion their central legal position is substantially correct. I have reviewed the authorities they cite, researched the matter independently, and consulted with other professionals in the field," he said.
Hickam also spoke with Jerry Cox, president of Family Council in Little Rock, and invited him to share their legal research in case Hickam missed something or could be persuaded his opinion was wrong. He said the information he was provided at the time was outdated and did not specifically address school board prayers, nor did it say anything about the leading case on the specific issue -- FFRF v. Chino Valley Board of Education, in 2018.
"The school prayer issue is ever developing," he said. "I will continue to examine new cases and I will change my opinion should I find authority that warrants it. The U.S. Supreme Court has accepted a school prayer case this term and I will examine it closely when a decision is made."
Attorney for FFRF, Karen M. Heineman, said in a letter to Hickam on behalf of the district that while school board members are free to pray privately, conducting prayer in an organized, public manner violates the constitutional requirement of religious neutrality in public schools.
She noted the courts decided it is not constitutional based on the fact school boards are very closely associated with schools and routinely involve student participation.