FFRF ensures Mich. grade school graduation stays secular (March 11, 2013)

A grade school in Spring Lake, Mich. will no longer allow organized prayer at its graduation ceremony, after the Freedom From Religion Foundation contacted the school district about illegal prayer at the 2012 graduation.

At last year's graduation for the charter school, West Michigan Academy of Arts and Academics, a pastor delivered a prayer referencing Jesus.

FFRF Senior Staff Attorney Rebecca Markert sent a letter to the Special Assistant to the President for Charter Schools, Timothy Wood on March 8, 2013. She noted that the law requires public charter schools to remain neutral toward religion and that religious rituals must be removed from graduation ceremonies.

Wood replied March 11 that he would inform the school's Board of Education about the church-state violation and make sure "they understand that religious rituals are not allowed at graduation ceremonies or any other school-sponsored event."