May students be excused from parts of the curriculum for religious reasons?
As good educational policy, school officials, whenever possible, should try to accommodate the requests of parents and students for excusal for religious reasons from specific classroom discussions or activities. In “A Parent’s Guide to Religion in the Public Schools,” the National PTA and the First Amendment Center give the following advice concerning excusal requests: If focused on a specific discussion, assignment, or activity, such requests should be routinely granted to strike a balance between the student’s religious freedom and the school’s interest in providing a well-rounded education. If it is proved that particular lessons substantially burden a student’s free exercise of religion and if the school cannot prove a compelling interest in requiring attendance, some courts may require the school to excuse the student. It is important for teachers and administrators to ask themselves the questions posed in the Sherbert test as they make decisions about how to accommodate excusal
As good educational policy, school officials, whenever possible, should try to accommodate the requests of parents and students for excusal for religious reasons from specific classroom discussions or activities. In “A Parent’s Guide to Religion in the Public Schools,” the National PTA and the First Amendment Center give the following advice concerning excusal requests: If focused on a specific discussion, assignment, or activity, such requests should be routinely granted to strike a balance between the student’s religious freedom and the school’s interest in providing a well-rounded education. If it is proved that particular lessons substantially burden a student’s free exercise of religion and if the school cannot prove a compelling interest in requiring attendance, some courts may require the school to excuse the student.
As good educational policy, school officials, whenever possible, should try to accommodate the requests of parents and students for excusal for religious reasons from specific classroom discussions or activities. In “A Parent’s Guide to Religion in the Public Schools,” the National PTA and the First Amendment Center give the following advice concerning excusal requests: If focused on a specific discussion, assignment, or activity, such requests should be routinely granted to strike a balance between the student’s religious freedom and the school’s interest in providing a well-rounded education. If it is proved that particular lessons substantially burden a student’s free exercise of religion and if the school cannot prove a compelling interest in requiring attendance, some courts may require the school to excuse the student.
Whenever possible, school officials should try to accommodate the requests of parents and students for excusal from classroom discussions or activities for religious reasons. If focused on a specific discussion, assignment, or activity, such requests should be routinely granted in order to strike a balance between the student’s religious freedom and the school’s interest in providing a well-rounded education. Under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, 3 if it is proved that particular lessons substantially burden a student’s free exercise of religion and if the school cannot prove a compelling interest in requiring attendance, the school would be legally required to excuse the student.
