Before School Prayer Group Strikes A Nerve with School Officials in Okmulgee

A misunderstanding at a Green Country school is raising some eyebrows. It's all about a prayer group that meets at the Okmulgee Middle School. Students say what started out as a well-intentioned

Wednesday, March 1st 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

A misunderstanding at a Green Country school is raising some eyebrows. It's all about a prayer group that meets at the Okmulgee Middle School. Students say what started out as a well-intentioned prayer meeting before school has turned into a divisive issue. However, school administrators insist there are no problems.

Steven Beam leads a prayer group at the Okmulgee Middle School. The group first met three weeks ago around the school's flagpole. But with so many distractions outside, the students decided to petition for a classroom. "We got about 40 signatures the first day and took it down to the principal," Beam said. "He told us that he could not supply us a room and that he wasn't the person that could tell us whether or not we could meet."

Beam and his father then made an appointment for a meeting with the Okmulgee assistant superintendent of schools. Father and son say the school official told them he had sent the principal a copy of the Equal Access Law, and that the kids would be assigned a room and if not, to call him back.

However, the assistant superintendent says that's not right. He didn't tell Beam they'd have a room, he told them to talk to the principal again. "We just went ahead and started meeting in a coach's classroom," Beam explained. "About 2 weeks later, the principal walked down and told us that he could not supply us with the room, so ever since then we've been meeting outside."

The principal wouldn't comment on the situation. Dr. Sheryl Flowers, the Okmulgee Superintendent of Schools, says she doesn't know who said what. Her concern was the presence of the coach during the students' prayer session. Flowers says the issue is not where the students meet, it's school personnel not knowing their place in these meetings. But students who've been in these meetings say no teacher has ever participated in prayer. They've only observed.

Which is OK, according to a Tulsa attorney who specializes in such laws. However, he says interpreting the law often becomes a hot button issue. "It's been litigated over and over and administrators don't want to spend their money on attorneys which is good," said attorney Kent Felty. "Sometimes they over-react and over-reacting, they abridge the rights of the students who want to meet and pray."

Now Flowers says the issue will be resolved. "I don't know that there's anything that not workable or solvable in this situation," she said.

Beam says he didn't mean to start a ruckus. But he's pressing on. "I don't think I should give up on God and what he wants me to do," he explained.

Federal law lays out very specific guidelines when it comes to religion in school.

Equal Access Law

--Students can pray in non-classroom time, others must not be pressured to attend.

--Students can form religious clubs, must be treated the same as extra-curricular groups.

--Teachers can sit in on student prayer meetings, may not participate.

--Students are allowed to pray at school in non-classroom time as long as it is student-initiated and others are not pressured to attend.

--Students may form religious clubs and must be given the same access as other extra-curricular groups.

--As for teachers, they can sit in on prayer meetings, but they can not participate.