FFRF blocks prayer at Texas high school’s football games (May 9, 2012)

Students and coaches will no longer be praying in the locker room at McAllen High School (McAllen, Texas), thanks to the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

McAllen’s head football coach reportedly asked a student to recite the Lord’s Prayer before each game. FFRF Staff Attorney Stephanie Schmitt wrote to Superintendent James Ponce on Feb. 1: “The coaches’ apparent organizing and obvious participation in a team prayer constitutes an unconstitutional government endorsement of religion.”

Assistant Superintendent Mike Barrera responded after an April 18 follow-up letter, replying on May 9 that the district “has taken steps to orient staff and heighten awareness about the proper procedures involved in student led prayers at public events.”