A Mississippi teacher was reprimanded after the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) found out the teacher had been leaving prayer cards under students’ desks. The teacher, who has remained unidentified, was apparently found out through a Facebook post. A local grandmother in the area had posted about encouraging friends to pray for students in public school and noted that the teacher had inspired her to do so. “She’s been placing prayer cards under each of her students’ desk. I’ve had the privilege of driving my grandson to school every morning and being able to pray over them and their future spouses,” the grandmother wrote.

Apparently, not everyone was as impressed as the grandmother with this news. “A concerned district community member informed the state/church watchdog that a teacher at East Central Middle School had placed cards with prayers written on them underneath all of the desks in their class during the first week of school. Upon receiving this news, FFRF, a national state/church watchdog, took action to protect students from state-sponsored religious promotion,” the FFRF wrote in a statement. They went on to call the cards “religious indoctrination.” “When teachers use their position to push their personal religious beliefs and encourage prayer, it communicates to students and parents that they are outsiders — not full members of the political community — if they do not follow the same religious belief.” After calling the cards a violation of students’ First Amendment rights, the FFRF called for an investigation. “In order to respect the First Amendment rights of students, we ask that the district investigate this situation and ensure that [the teacher], and all other teachers, refrain from using their positions to proselytize or encourage prayer going forward,” the group wrote.

Attorney Jack Pickett responded to the statement, confirming that an investigation did take place and that it was confirmed that cards were given out as the FFRF had alleged, albeit at the middle school and not at the high school. He stated the teacher was officially reprimanded on September 13. “Among other things, the letter of reprimand stressed the seriousness of the teacher’s misconduct and expressly stated that teachers are prohibited from using their positions to promote personal religious beliefs. The letter also stated any expressions of religious viewpoints in the classroom and like settings are considered a constitutional violation and must cease immediately,” he informed the FFRF. He further shared that the school had required new training so that such events would be avoided in the future. “To prevent similar conduct from occurring in the future, a slide show entitled, ‘Religion in Our Schools’ was presented to all school principals in the district to be utilized by them in training all personnel,” he wrote. FFRF co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor called the move “satisfactory.” “This teacher deserved an ‘F’ for presenting her vulnerable young students with prayer cards in their first week of school. Our public schools exist to educate, not to indoctrinate children in the religious faith of their teachers.”