Have you noticed that there’s a new change in the morning routine, one that makes everything just that tad bit quieter? Well that’s because of a new piece of legislation that was passed over the summer, now requiring 1-2 minutes of silence in the morning announcements of schools all around Kentucky. During this time, students must remain silent and seated. Students can use this to pray, meditate, or work quietly on something. In the original concept of this bill, it was up to the teacher to decide whether silence was permitted. It was changed to make it mandatory as shown here “at the commencement of the first class of each day in all public schools, there shall be [the teacher in charge of the room may announce that] a moment of silence or reflection”.
Following that, this bill also allows students to receive moral instructions, but this must be off school grounds. For up to one 1 hour per week, students may be excused from school to pray or practice for religious reasons. This time must be approved by the county first as the bill states “Local boards of education shall allow pupils to be excused for up to one (1) hour on no more than one (1) day each week, which shall include time attributed to travel to and from, to attend a district-approved request for a moral instruction offering upon receiving the consent of the pupil’s parent or guardian.”
Then, after interviews with students and teachers at STEAM, we got their opinions on the bill itself. Some mention worry, while others think of it as a moment for reflection. One of our teachers, Mrs. Sheldon-Prokes noted, “It did kind of shock me. We had a moment of silence when I was in high school, but it was only 15 to 20 seconds, not for a minute.” Another teacher, Mrs. White, said “I think the moment of silence is critical for students to gather their thoughts at the beginning of the day. If they want to make that into a religious moment for themselves, they can, but they don’t have to.” We then got a senior at STEAM, Damien Elkins, to talk with us and give us his thoughts. “It allows students and teacher alike to have moments of reflection upon their day and what they want to do to improve their day or get their day in order and figure out what they got to do that day like assignments and test grades”.
Overall, after gathering opinions from students and staff, more of them had positive views, mentioning that this time can be used for clearing the mind and planning their day. Though that is not to say all of them are positive. This new bill is a big change for how religion will be viewed in schools; it gives people chances to pray, meditate, and take religious leave. This does bring up the question. Will religious influence spread further through schools in the future?