NHCS moving closer to changing prayer policy for school board meetings

NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — The New Hanover County Board of Education is moving closer to changing its policy on prayer at the start of school board meetings.

According to a document that underwent a second reading at Monday’s school board meeting, the Board of Education wants to provide a time during the meeting for a brief invocation “no more than three minutes long […] voluntarily delivered by a religious leader or the leader of any assembly that periodically and regularly meets within the county for the purpose of worshiping or discussing their religious or non-religious perspectives.”

The document goes onto say: “If more than one potential invocational speaker signs up for a board meeting date, the invocational speaker will be selected at random by lottery conducted by the superintendent or the superintendent’s designee.”

By a 6-1 vote, the Board voted to remove a part of the proposal that said: “In the event no invocational speaker is signed up for a particular meeting, a board member may provide an invocation.” The Board will also add a legal footnote to the policy referencing a court ruling involving prayer.

Pat Bradford was the only dissenting vote. Another vote on the policy is expected before it can go into effect.

The Board stresses that the policy “is not intended, and shall not be implemented or construed in any way, to affiliate the board with, nor express the board’s preference for, any faith or religious denomination.”