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(124th General Assembly)(Amended Substitute House Bill Number 394)
AN ACT
To amend sections 3313.601 and 3313.602 of the Revised Code to
permit the board of education
of a school district
to
provide
for a moment of silence each school day
for prayer, reflection,
or meditation upon a
moral,
philosophical, or patriotic
theme; to prohibit
boards of education, schools, or employees of the
school
district from requiring a pupil to
participate in
such a
moment of silence; to
prohibit the board of education of a school
district
from adopting certain
policies pertaining
to religion or religious
expression; and to forbid boards of education from requiring any student to participate in the oral recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio:
SECTION 1. That sections 3313.601 and 3313.602 of the Revised Code be
amended to read as
follows:
Sec. 3313.601.
The board of education of each school
district may provide
for a moment of
silence each school day for prayer,
reflection, or
meditation upon a moral,
philosophical, or patriotic
theme. No
board of education, school, or employee
of the school
district
shall require a pupil to participate
in a moment of
silence
provided for pursuant to this section. No
board of
education
shall
prohibit a classroom teacher from
providing in
his
the
teacher's classroom reasonable periods of
time for
programs or
meditation upon
activities of a moral, philosophical, or patriotic
theme.
No
pupil shall be
required to participate in such
programs
or
meditations
activities if they are contrary
to the religious
convictions of the pupil or
his
the pupil's
parents or guardians. No board of education of a school district shall adopt any
policy or rule
respecting or
promoting an establishment of
religion or
prohibiting any pupil from the
free, individual, and
voluntary
exercise or expression of the pupil's
religious beliefs
in any
primary or secondary school. The board of education
may
limit the
exercise or
expression of the pupil's religious beliefs
as
described in this section to
lunch periods or other
noninstructional
time periods when pupils are free to associate.
Sec. 3313.602. (A) The board of education of each city,
local, exempted
village, and joint vocational school district
shall adopt a policy
specifying
whether or not
oral
recitation of
the pledge of allegiance to the flag
shall
be
a
part of the
school's program and, if so, establishing a time and
manner
for
such
the recitation.
The policy adopted under this
division shall
not require any student to participate in the
recitation and shall
prohibit the intimidation of any student by
other students or
staff aimed at coercing participation. (B) In the development of its graded course of study, the
board of education
of each city and exempted village school
district and the
governing board of each educational service
center shall ensure that
the principles of democracy and ethics
are emphasized and discussed wherever
appropriate in all parts of
the curriculum for grades kindergarten through
twelve. (C) Each city, local, exempted village, and joint vocational
school board
shall adopt policies that encourage all certificated
and noncertificated
employees to be cognizant of their roles in
instilling ethical principles and
democratic ideals in all
district pupils. (D) The board of education of each city, local, joint
vocational,
chartered community, and exempted
village school
district, and the Cleveland
Scholarship
scholarship and
Tutoring
Program
tutoring program, shall require each district
school
to
devote time on or about
Veterans' day to an observance that
conveys
the meaning and significance of that day. The amount of
time each school
devotes to this observance shall be at least one
hour or, in schools that
schedule class periods of less than one
hour, at least one standard class
period. The board shall
determine the specific activities to
constitute the observance in
each school in the district after consultation
with the school's
administrators. SECTION 2. That existing sections 3313.601 and 3313.602 of the Revised
Code are hereby
repealed.
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