The Nov. 14 meeting of the Collier County Public School Board at its opening. The typo in the title is in the original.(Image: CCPS)
Nov. 16, 2023 by David Silverberg
On Tuesday, Nov. 14, the Collier County Public School Board voted unanimously to have its staff draft a policy for a religious invocation to precede its meetings.
The decision followed a 3 to 2 vote against simply beginning invocations without policy guidelines.
The debate over an invocation has been consuming Board time since September when Board Member Jerry Rutherford (District 1) introduced the proposal. The idea was first raised at the Board’s August 8 meeting by Keith Flaugh, head of the Florida Citizens Alliance, an organization advocating conservative education and policies.
Underlying the debate is the role of religion in public education and assaults on the wall of separation between church and state in Collier County.
Horns and halos
As in the previous meeting when the issue was raised numerous speakers weighed in both for and against the idea.
Particularly noteworthy were remarks by Dr. Joseph Doyle, who said that an earlier invocation was removed in 2010 by a “wayward” school board. He said that the school board’s example would extend into classrooms.
“We have no moral compass anymore. We’re decaying from within. This isn’t going to solve everything but it’s a good first step,” he told the Board. “You know, the Jews turned their back on God many times and He punished them, OK? For years, OK? A lot of people say America is the new Israel, OK? The new Zion, I should say, OK? We’re going to be punished. We are being punished.” He decried Marxism and what he said were Marxists in Congress and “probably in this building, OK?” and called for an invocation.
Dr. Joseph Doyle (Image: CCPS)
Collier County resident Cynthia Marino Clark was one of the speakers who opposed the invocation. “What happened to learning religion through your church and you family? That’s where you learn religion,” she said. She recounted that while she began her education in Catholic school she switched to public school and her public education never prevented her from praying then or now. “The school board meetings should not begin with prayers. Our community is diverse with many beliefs. The moment of silence is a great way to take care of that” for people who need to pray, she said.
Cynthia Marino Clark (Image: CCPS)
When the public comment portion was finished Member Stephanie Lucarelli (District 2) complained that the Board’s time was being taken up with “a personal political agenda” that she said was causing “angst.” She also called the whole issue divisive and decried that some of the public speakers, including faith leaders, had said “things that are disrespectful and things that are, in my mind, un-Christianlike.” She noted that the debate did not benefit students, “so who is this for?”
Member Erick Carter (District 4) said that at times passions at the meetings had caused “some Christians to wear their horns, or their halo has slipped and the horns show. And that is definitely not what we want.” He called for any invocation to be inclusive. “We have to be careful not to take one verse out of the Bible and say, ‘This is it,’” he said. He repeated his halo and horns metaphor: “My biggest concern is religious leaders coming in here with their halo so tight that their horns show. That’s not what we want.”
Lichter, who over the course of the meeting showed increasing impatience with the amount of time being consumed on the issue, said “I don’t see how this has any direct impact on children.”
She went on to decry the intolerant tone of some of the speakers: “Then, some of the speakers who spoke tonight about being a virtuous citizen and being a Christian and the irony was not lost on me and I’ve seen and read the very un-Christianlike things you’ve spoken about me and I’m just shocked, so it’s just ironic and it wasn’t lost on me tonight.”
Rutherford defended his motion for an invocation. However, when it came time to vote he displayed confusion over parliamentary processes and procedures.
In a previous meeting the Board had chosen to follow the example of the Miami-Dade School District, the largest in Florida and the fourth largest in the country, which is wrestling with the exact same issue. There, staff is drafting an invocation policy for board consideration.
With its unanimous vote, the Collier County Board chose to follow the Miami-Dade lead.
The draft policy will be considered at a future meeting.
Liberty lives in light
© 2023 by David Silverberg