A middle school principal has been told it was inappropriate to have teachers give students a prayer asking God to help vanquish their "enemies" — the standardized tests they were about to take.
School officials will decide whether to reprimand Principal Paulette Walker after investigating her distribution of the prayer this year and another prayer notice to teachers last year, Assistant Superintendent Matt George said Thursday.
Because of the prayers, the American Civil Liberties Union called Thursday for an investigation of religion in district schools.
George said he met with Walker before hearing about the ACLU's statement. "The minute it was reported to us, we told her to stop," said George.
He supervises the district which includes Samuel J. Green Middle School, where the prayer was given out Monday with test booklets for two standardized tests.
Green is one of dozens of failing schools which could be taken over by the state unless scores improve significantly on two tests being taken this week. Fourth- and eighth-graders take the LEAP test, which can keep them from being promoted, and students in other grades take the nationally standardized Iowa Test.
The prayer, which had errors in grammar and punctuation, states: "I receive your help faith, knowing that through you I shall do valiantly, for you are the one who treads down my enemies.(LEAP, Iowa)".
Asked whether it was appropriate to describe tests as students' enemies, George said, "We've told her not to pass this out. ... We didn't get into the specifics of what's inside. That's what the investigation is for."
In a letter Thursday, Joe Cook, executive director of ACLU of Louisiana, asked Superintendent Anthony Amato to investigate and stop school-sponsored religious exercises throughout the district, as well as at Green.
Cook said the only evidence he had of such activity this year or last was the purple half-sheet of paper bearing the prayer, as well as a prayer announcement sent last year to teachers at Green.
However, he said, he thinks there have been more.
The "special announcement" distributed to teachers last year said in part, "We will not be taken over by the state but by faith. ... We will need a miracle. And after all isn't that what he specializes in?"
Like the prayer, it had errors of punctuation and grammar. It asked "prayer warriors" to "pray for each other, each others family, and for our school." It also stated, "Education in New Orleans, is in trouble.