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Hillsborough spreads the word on rules for religious groups volunteering in public schools

 
Not everyone was thrilled when Idlewild Baptist Church in Lutz gave away this T-shirt to more than 2,000 Hillsborough County teachers last year.
Not everyone was thrilled when Idlewild Baptist Church in Lutz gave away this T-shirt to more than 2,000 Hillsborough County teachers last year.
Published Aug. 23, 2016

TAMPA — Hillsborough County school employees gathered Monday for three hours of training that included this admonishment from district leader MaryLou Whaley:

"It's never okay for a teacher to pray with a student."

Not even if you know the family, said Whaley, director of community partnerships and philanthropy. "Any time you're seen as an authority, it crosses the line."

Monday's session, one of six to bring administrators up to speed on an array of topics, included information on Hillsborough's new online activity fliers and how it now screens volunteers.

It was also an effort to avoid problems that occurred last year, including a Fellowship of Christian Athletes employee who preached to students and posted descriptions of his preaching on Facebook.

Already this school year, a principal had to be warned not to pray at school with teachers.

Critics last year also complained about the influence of Idlewild Baptist Church, which organized voluntary training sessions for principals, donated teacher T-shirts with the church's name and logo and, as part of a coffee service at teacher meetings, put out coupons that invited teachers to visit the church.

The coffee coupons, which Whaley referred to as "passive distribution," were viewed by organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union as a form of solicitation.

With the exception of the T-shirts, Idlewild, in Lutz, is on track to do much the same this year. A campus beautification day is planned Saturday at 25 area schools. Included in the projects are 12 plant beds for a vegetable garden at B.T. Washington Elementary School.

"Our people love the school projects, especially the young families," said Barry Chesney, Idlewild's pastor of local missions.

Chesney said that he does not consider the coffee coupons to be solicitation and that the district never suggested they forgo the coupons. "If they had, we would have complied," he said.

Whaley pointed out that the coupons were for adults, not children. She said the district has an "all-or-nothing" policy when it comes to outside groups it considers responsible.

If a school opens its doors to one, such as the Girl Scouts, it must extend the same treatment to an organization such as the Child Evangelism Fellowship, which has elementary after-school Good News clubs. By that logic, she said, schools must admit Satanic, Muslim and Jewish clubs, as well.

The example of the Satanic club is not purely hypothetical. A national organization, in a tongue-and-cheek manner, has announced plans to open Satanic after-school clubs wherever Good News clubs operate.

Civil libertarians argue that, under the First Amendment's establishment clause, any nod from government to a religious organization should be scrutinized closely — and that a church's coffee coupon, placed in a public school, is not comparable to one from a grocery store.

Gray areas exist — including whether someone might be bothered when schools post numerous tweets in which they praise Idlewild for its contributions.

Whaley's presentation focused on the clear legal guidelines and how to enforce them without discouraging volunteer work that the district valued last year at $27.7 million.

That process can include difficult conversations with people who believe that, by exposing students to the Gospel, they are doing good, she said.

Some organizations, including the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Huddle Touch, got their own training because of questions raised last year.

Faculty advisers of the student-led clubs should exist largely as custodians, Whaley said. They can help with organizational issues. But "you're not teaching the relative value of Christianity. You're teaching the relative value of being a leader, running a club."

Contact Marlene Sokol at (813) 226-3356 or msokol@tampabay.com. Follow @marlenesokol.