Ohio Coerced School Prayer Controversy

A Ohio teacher says that he was discriminated against for opposing prayer at a high school graduation last year. Ralph Adams, a teacher at Felicity-Franklin High School in Clermont County, Ohio, had successfully protested such prayers last year.

According to Adams, the school board retaliated by offering him only a one-year contract and restricting him from teaching students about Supreme Court decisions of which the board did not approve. Board policy requires that five-year contacts be offered to teachers. Adams also reports that school superintendent Hornsby reprimanded him for "anti-religious views" and criticized him for First Amendment activism in his annual performance review.

On behalf of Adams, civil rights lawyer Scott Greenwood filed a complaint on Wednesday, August 17 against the school board and school superintendent Roger Hornsby.