H. B. 2817
(By Delegates Delong, Fragale, Pino, Shook,
Moye, Boggs and Miley)
[Introduced January 9, 2008; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §18-5-15g, relating
to providing for a "moment of silence" in public schools.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §18-5-15g, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 5. COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION.
§18-5-15g. Providing for a moment of silence for meditation or
prayer.
In order that the right of every pupil to the free exercise of
religion is guaranteed within the schools and that the freedom of
each individual pupil is subject to the least possible pressure
from the
state either to engage in, or to refrain from, religious
observation on school grounds, the school board of each county shall establish the daily observance of one minute of silence in
each classroom of the district.
During the one-minute period of silence, the classroom teacher
and other responsible school personnel shall take care that all
pupils remain seated and silent and make no distracting display to
the end that each pupil may, in the exercise of individual choice,
meditate, pray, engage in any other silent activity which does not
interfere with, distract or impede other pupils in the like
exercise of individual choice.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide for a "moment of
silence" in the public schools.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.