Long Beach High School in Long Beach, Miss., has ended two school-sponsored prayer rituals at football games. Staff Attorney Sam Grover wrote the district Sept. 26.
Traditionally, a student led a Christian prayer over the loudspeaker before every football game. In addition, the high school band, led by the drum major, recited the Lord’s Prayer before its halftime performances.
Grover noted that while student-led prayer is permissible, there was significant institutional pressure on the drum major to lead the prayer because it was “tradition.”
An attorney for the district called Grover on Nov. 17 to say that prayers would no longer be led over the loudspeaker, and that while students remained free to pray by themselves, band prayer would no longer be institutionalized.