A high school principal who was fired for letting students read prayers over the intercom was ordered reinstated at the end of the school year.
The five-member School Board overruled Superintendent Ben Canada and reversed his firing Nov. 24 of Wingfield High School's Bishop Knox. But the board also voted unanimously to suspend Knox without pay for the rest of the school year.The board found that Knox had shown a "lack of professional judgment" but had not been insubordinate, board president Mark Bailey said.
"I had not anticipated the decision that was made," Knox said. "I will discuss it with my attorney. I will pray about it. I maintain that my actions were not in violation of any board policy."
Knox had been dismissed for allowing students to read a non-denominational prayer over the loudspeaker during the morning announcements for three days in a row last month.
The prayer read: "Almighty God, we ask that you bless our parents, teachers and country throughout the day. In your name we pray. Amen."
Wingfield students had voted 490-96 to hold the prayers, and Knox's firing prompted student walkouts around the state and rallies, many attended by Gov. Kirk Fordice and other state officials. Students at many Mississippi schools occasionally recite prayers around the flagpole before class.
The U.S. Supreme Court in 1963 declared school prayer unconstitutional. But a 1992 5th Circuit Court of Appeals decision held that voluntary, student-led and student-initiated prayers are constitutional.
Canada and school lawyers had said Knox should be fired for failing to heed a warning from the district attorney that the prayers were illegal.
And the Mississippi American Civil Liberties Union argued that the reading of the prayer over the school's intercom violated the rights of students who may have been opposed to the blessing but who had no choice but to hear it.