"Adopt-A-School" Program For Churches Questioned

Yesterday's Visalia (CA) Times-Delta reports on a program operated by the Visalia (California)Unified School District that permits faith community organizations to "adopt" public schools. The guidelines for the program, published by the school board, call for groups to create a supportive presence at their adopted schools, for them to establish and nurture relationships and serve as a practical demonstration of personal faith. However, the guidelines prohibit groups from engaging in overt prayer with students, offering spiritual advice, wearing items that promote a particular faith, inviting students to religious events or arranging contact with then outside of school. Now some critics are questioning whether the church-state separation line has been crossed, especially by a summer sports camp operated by a church at one of the schools. The camp included Bible study. School officials say the church rented school premises for the camp, just as any non-profit group could rent the facilities.