A push to allow prayer before school board meetings in Cabarrus County has drawn legal warnings, political backlash and renewed attention to how public bodies across the region incorporate religion into meetings.

Last month, the Cabarrus County Board of Education voted to have its policy committee draft new guidelines for the district that would allow prayer before board meetings. The board’s discussion prompted a letter from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which warned of potential constitutional violations. The decision also sparked fierce debate from religious conservatives who criticized one board member’s staunch opposition to introducing prayer.

Across the Charlotte region, school boards are far from unified in how, or whether, they incorporate prayer into public meetings, with practices ranging from spoken invocations to silent reflections to no observance at all.

‘Unnecessary Liability’

Christopher Line, an attorney with the Freedom from Religion Foundation, said in a legal complaint to Cabarrus County Schools Board of Education members that a prayer policy could create “unnecessary liability” for the district.

In 2016, he wrote, the Chino Valley Unified School District in California was ordered to pay $275,000 to the foundation after they were sued for violating the First Amendment by implementing a prayer policy that included Bible readings at school board meetings.

“It is coercive, insensitive, and intimidating to force nonreligious and non-Christian citizens to choose between making a public showing of their nonbelief by refusing to participate in the prayer or else display deference toward a religious sentiment in which they do not believe, but which their school board members clearly do,” Line wrote to the Cabarrus County school board.

Line told The Charlotte Observer the foundation may consider legal action against the board should it adopt a policy FFRF believes to violate constitutional rights.

Cabarrus County Board of Education attorney William Isenhour did not respond to requests for comment by the Observer via phone and email.

What’s next for Cabarrus County Schools?

Though the FFRF urged school board members to abandon its prayer proposal, the district’s policy committee is expected to draft a policy for board members and the public to discuss in coming months.

Clips from the April 14 board meeting, where members voted 5-2 to ask staff to work on the policy, garnered attention on social media after board member Pamela Escobar criticized the proposal by member Melanie Freeman.

”How much prayer do you need? How much God do you need?” Escobar asked at the meeting in a moment that drew reactions on Facebook.

Freeman said at the meeting prayer is the “bedrock of this nation,” and a “time-honored tradition. “ She said many state governments, municipalities and Congress implement prayer into meetings.

Member Greg Mills, who voted in favor of creating an invocation policy, said the prayer is not for the benefit of the audience or meeting attendees but for the board members themselves.

“The invocation doesn’t have to be this sort of onerous thing that’s pressing down a certain religion,” he said at the meeting. “It’s for us to sort of take a beat at the beginning of the meeting and focus ourselves on the solemnity of the work that we have to do.”

School Board Chair Rob Walter declined to answer specific questions by the Observer but wrote in an email the committee and district attorney are working on a policy that is respectful, non-discriminatory and legally compliant.

Approaches vary across school districts

The Observer reviewed other school district prayer practices in the region to compare to Cabarrus County.

In Gaston County, school board meetings begin with a nondenominational, generic prayer, according to district spokesperson Todd Hagans. A pastor from the community is chosen to say the prayer each month, he said, often from a church that partners with the district or community. The district has also observed moments of silence or had motivational stories read to open meetings.

At Union County Public Schools board meetings, selected chaplains deliver invocations, according to district spokesperson Yaviri Escalera. The district’s policy, adopted in 2019, specifies that meeting agendas must contain a disclaimer that states the prayer is the chaplain’s own beliefs and does not represent that of the board and that no attendee is required to participate.

The policy notes that invocations should be solemn, inclusive and should avoid disparaging different religious or non-religious beliefs.

In Catawba, Lincoln and Iredell-Statesville school districts, meetings begin with a moment of silence, district spokespeople confirmed.

Lincoln County Schools spokesperson Shanti Clancy said the moment of silence gives board members and attendees the opportunity for a personal prayer or reflection and is respectful of diverse beliefs.

The Iredell-Statesville Schools district discussed implementing a prayer policy in 2023, but ultimately took no action.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools has no prayer, invocation or moment of silence at the start of school board meetings.

The district follows a 1995 policy that carefully outlines appropriate religious discussion within school.

“Because there are students, teachers and staff of many religious faiths, convictions and beliefs in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, school staff members must be sensitive to the freedom of religion and other Constitutional rights of all,” the policy states.

How school board meetings differ legally

The city of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, Union County and Cabarrus County all begin council and commission meetings with invocations or words of inspiration. In each case, the prayer is commonly spoken by a member of the commission or council. This practice is upheld by a 2014 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Line said.

But school board meetings, often involving students and families, carry added scrutiny, he said.

In the Chino Valley case, a U.S. district court determined First Amendment concerns were heightened because children are impressionable and can easily learn from adults what beliefs they should have.

“School board meetings are fundamentally different from city council meetings because they are an extension of the public school system,” Line told the Observer. “Students, parents and district employees may be required to attend, making any official religious exercise inherently coercive.”

But counties in the Charlotte region have faced legal challenges, too.

In 2018, Rowan County paid $285,000 to the American Civil Liberties Union following a lawsuit over the county’s prayer policy. The practice was found to violate the First Amendment as more than 97% of the prayers said at meetings by commissioners were specifically Christian.