Parents Say It's the Last Straw — They Will Homeschool Because a Lunchroom Monitor Tells Their Kindergartner "It is not good"

News Staff : Apr 7, 2014
Liberty Institute

"But it's good to pray," 5-year-old Gabriella tells monitor.

According to the Perez family, their 5-year-old daughter bowed her head over her food during lunch. A lunchroom monitor instructed her to stop, and when the young girl told the monitor, "But it's good to pray," she was told, "It is not good." (Photo via The Blaze)

The Perez Family says this incident was the last straw and they have decided to remove their daughter from the public education system.

"Mainly because of this incident, we have exercised our option as parents to teach our daughter at home," said Marcos Perez. "We live in a very good school district, but we cannot, in good conscience, send our daughter to a school where her religious liberty has been compromised."

LIBERTY INSTITUTE FIGHTS BACK

Liberty Institute took fast action to help the Perez family, when a lunchroom monitor told their 5-year-old daughter it was wrong to bow her head in prayer before she ate.

Tuesday, Liberty Institute attorneys sent a demand letter to school administrators at Carillon Elementary School in Oviedo, Florida, on behalf of Marcos Perez and his daughter. The story has grabbed national headlines and highlighted the fact that students can pray in school.

"Of course, students can pray at school!" said Liberty Institute Senior Counsel Jeremy Dys. "As the Supreme Court held over half a century ago: Students do not 'shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.' In addition to violating the First Amendment, the school is in violation of Department of Education guidelines that specifically protect this type of prayer, and thus could jeopardize its federal funding."