MEDINA, Ohio -- Medina schools Superintendent Dave Knight on Thursday put an end to a prayer chain that teachers and the principal at A.I. Root Middle School had started at work.
The chain was in support of fellow staff members facing illnesses or deaths in their families and students in child neglect or abuse cases, principal Chad Wise said.
"Public school staff can't use district resources, including email, to promote prayer, especially when the principal, a person in a position of influence, is involved," Knight said. "When it comes to separation of church and state, it's very clear."
Knight told Wise to end all prayer chain communications during work hours or using district equipment.
The superintendent said it's OK to send out one email "to keep a family in your thoughts and prayers," but when a principal sends out a message calling for a prayer chain that "systemizes it. A teacher could feel it wasn't voluntary to participate."
Several teachers complained about the prayer chain email that was sent on Sept. 8, then included in a staff newsletter, union president John Leatherman said.
Knight met Thursday with Wise and Leatherman to resolve the issue as an informal grievance.
"Not everyone has taken the school law classes I have taken," Knight said, "but once I explained that the prayer chain crossed the line, and determined that there was no real attempt on either side to push an agenda, we resolved this without discipline."
Knight normally doesn't get involved at the informal grievance level, but did in this case because "I have seen this type of issue grow into divisiveness and put a school in the middle of a debate between liberal and conservative beliefs," he said. "I'm a man of faith who wants good for all, but I'm also a firm believer in separation of church and state.
"People caring for others is fine and we don't want to lose that, but no one should feel guilty or unwelcome over who is or isn't participating in a prayer group. No one should be telling anyone else how to believe using district resources or on the clock, especially a person in a position of influence."
Leatherman agrees with Knight.
"He is exactly right," Leatherman said. "People wanted to give good wishes, but it got too big."
Wise said, "it never was our intention to make anyone feel uncomfortable. As soon as we found out someone was, we resolved it and are moving forward. We will move this to outside email and communicate privately with people who want to be involved."