Villa Rica High School and its principal should not have allowed a local church to perform baptisms in the school stadium last month that included 18 students on the football team, a Carroll County School District investigation concluded.
In a statement sent Monday to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, district assistant superintendent Terry Jones said principal Glen Harding approved First Baptist Church of Villa Rica's activities at the school on Aug. 12. The baptisms reportedly included at least one coach as well as the players and drew the ire of the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation, which sent a letter to the school stating it is "illegal for coaches to participate in religious activities with students."
Jones’ statement said the school district “had no knowledge that this event was scheduled to happen at VRHS.”
"The principal's understanding was that the event was a church sponsored activity that was to be conducted after school and he was not aware of student involvement," the statement said. "From the investigation the school district has concluded that VRHS failed to follow district facility usages procedures for outside groups using school facilities."
The school district said it is addressing “concerns regarding the timing of the event and the participation of school personnel” with the appropriate parties. Jones declined to say whether any disciplinary action was taken against school personnel.
The investigation began earlier this month.
The incident illustrated confusion and disagreement that persists over the boundary between schools and religion.
Federal guidelines released in 2003 say that “teachers and other public school officials may not lead their classes in prayer, devotional readings from the Bible, or other religious activities.”
Kevin Williams, pastor of First Baptist Church of Villa Rica, previously told the AJC that he had checked school rules and found no prohibition on baptisms so long as they were not school sanctioned or during school hours and no student was compelled to participate. He also said the Carroll school board hadn’t been told beforehand of the planned baptisms. “If I had talked to the school board and the school board or anybody from the school asked me not to do it, I would have obliged.”
The baptisms took place after school just before the football team’s practice. The team’s defensive coordinator, Andy Szatkowski, decided to be baptized on the field and encouraged players to do the same if they’d like. Williams’ son recorded the baptisms and posted it online.
The video, which has since been removed from the church’s YouTube channel, was reportedly accompanied by the following message: “We had the privilege of baptizing a bunch of football players and a coach on the field of Villa Rica High School! We did this right before practice! Take a look and see how God is STILL in our schools!” The foundation saw the video online and objected.
Annie Laurie Gaylor, the foundation’s co-founder and co-president, said Monday “I think that reason has prevailed.”
The school district statement said it “is committed to continuing to work with our local community while meeting state and federal guidelines.”
Gaylor said Monday she believes coaches involved in the baptisms should be reprimanded. She also recommended that Carroll County put together a protocol with guidelines for activities by religious groups on school property. The foundation wrote a letter to the district in late April complaining that a planned baccalaureate ceremony at Mount Zion High School was to include several Christian songs and remarks by a pastor. The school district agreed with the foundation, Gaylor said.
Her foundation describes itself as a free-thought and agnostic organization and says it sent 500 letters last year to schools objecting to what it believes were violations of federal guidelines on religion and schools.
Carroll County is on the Georgia-Alabama border, about 50 miles west of Atlanta.
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