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Student's protest revamps ceremony
By BRYAN GILMER © St. Petersburg Times, published October 21, 2000 ST. PETERSBURG -- After a complaint about the constitutionality of a $4 fee, St. Petersburg High School has ended a church service for graduating seniors that was at least a 40-year-old tradition. The school has annually sponsored a baccalaureate service, held most recently at First Presbyterian Church, as a way to help send graduates into the world. Another such service was planned there for the class of 2001 -- until senior Pam Newell protested. In September, all seniors got a bill for $61 in graduation dues. With her share of expenses for the senior breakfast, rental chairs and a sound system for the graduation, the 17-year-old noticed she was being charged $4 for baccalaureate flowers, an organist and the rental of the First Presbyterian sanctuary and fellowship hall. "In the Constitution of the United States, you have the freedom to practice whatever religion you want or none at all," Pam said Friday. "What makes a high school think it can impose a Christian ceremony on its students? The high school is diverse. Half the students might not even want to go, and they were being told they have to pay. It's just not right." Many high schools in Hillsborough, Pasco, Hernando and Citrus counties sponsor a voluntary baccalaureate service, some at churches and some at school. None apparently requires students to pay for it. Pam talked to a guidance counselor about her concerns and was told she had to help pay for the service in order to participate in any aspect of the graduation, she and her mother, Teresa Newell, say. Pam scheduled an appointment to talk to St. Petersburg High principal Linda Benware, and Ms. Newell wrote an e-mail to Pinellas County Schools Superintendent Howard Hinesley. School district staff attorney Jackie Spoto determined that Pam was right. Public schools may not legally sponsor a service at a church and cannot require students to help pay for it. "It's been a real good learning process for the students," Benware said. "I met with the senior class officers today to discuss with them the options of what we can do to revise our end-of-year ceremony." The ceremony itself will remain substantially the same, said Benware, but it will not be held at a church. Benware, who has been the St. Petersburg High principal since January, attended the baccalaureate service last year. She was unconcerned because there were no prayers or scripture readings, and the songs were all secular ones, she said. "There was no religious aspect of the ceremony -- absolutely none," Benware said. "The whole ceremony was very family-focused. (School district spokesman) Ron Stone was our speaker last year. We talked about family values and how family helps you get through your teenage years. Benware says she was "naive" not to realize that holding the service in a church and requiring seniors to pay was still religious entanglement. The year-end service, which will be re-named to avoid a term traditionally associated with a church service, will still include the main element of last year's baccalaureate: Seniors will present a carnation to a person in attendance who supported them through high school. Pam and her mother are pleased that the school agreed to make the changes. But Pam says other seniors have angrily confronted her for disrupting the tradition. She stayed home from school Friday and feels she must transfer to another high school to feel safe. Benware said she talked Friday with groups of students upset over Pam's protest. "I told them the argument they were engaged in was inappropriate," Benware said, adding that many feared the ceremony would be canceled altogether. "They were still going to have their ceremony. I felt they reacted too quickly, and I don't think (Pam) has any reason to be concerned." Pam said she still plans to transfer and that the district has approved her request. Spoto said she knows of no other Pinellas high school with a religious entanglement with graduation. Not even all high schools have baccalaureate services. The situation is similar in Pasco County. Only some of the nine public high schools offer ceremonies, though years ago, most did. Students are not required to pay. In Hillsborough, six high schools last spring held baccalaureate services, some in school auditoriums, others in churches. Baccalaureate is one of only three school functions where prayers may be recited under district policy, but assistant superintendent Randy Poindexter said the service must be voluntary and held on a weekend. - Times staff writers Kelly Ryan, Robert King, Sarah Schweitzer, Kent Fischer and Barbara Behrendt contributed to this story.
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