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Moment of silence now required in schools

Posted October 10, 2007 11:00 pm

Dana Heupel

Under a law that takes effect immediately, all students in Illinois public schools will have to observe a moment of silence at the beginning of each day.

On Thursday, the Illinois House overrode Gov. Rod Blagojevich's veto of Senate Bill 1463, the Silent Reflection and Student Prayer Act. The Senate voted to override last week, meaning the bill becomes law without the governor's approval.

State law already permitted schools to observe a period of silence. The new law simply changes the wording from "may" to "shall."

The previous and new law also states, "This period shall not be conducted as a religious exercise but shall be an opportunity for silent prayer or for silent reflection on the anticipated activities of the day."

In his veto message, however, Blagojevich had expressed concerns about the separation between church and state.

"The law in Illinois today already allows teachers and students the opportunity to take a moment for silent thought or prayer, if they chose to," he wrote. "I believe this is the right balance between the principles echoed in our constitution, and our deeply held desire to practice our faith."

But supporters of the legislation said it does not force students to pray.

"We are bombarding them with information, with music, with all the things they're going to need later on, but do they ever have a moment of silence?" asked Rep. Monique Davis, D-Chicago.

Lawmakers opposed to the legislation contended it is bad public policy on several fronts.

Calling the bill an "ambiguous, unenforceable, unpunishable, unproductive piece of legislation," Sen. John Fritchey, D-Chicago, urged his colleagues to uphold the governor's veto.

With the cumulative silent time in every school for years to come, Fritchey said, "we are losing hours upon hours of our students' education and the future."

Several lawmakers also said the state already places too many mandates on schools, while others continued to raise the church-state issue.

"Yes, this doesn't mandate prayer, but let's face it, that's what this is about," said Rep. Lou Lang, D-Chicago. He said the only calls he received on the issue were from rabbis, priests and ministers who supported school prayer.

In his closing remarks, the House sponsor, Rep. Will Davis, D-Homewood, said that if the student in Cleveland who shot four people before killing himself earlier this week - or students who knew about his plans - "had an opportunity to sit and reflect," the tragedy might have been averted.

Davis acknowledged the law does not prescribe any punishment if teachers or schools do not observe the silent time.

The vote on the issue was 74-37, two more than the three-fifths majority needed to override a governor's veto.

Central Illinois lawmakers who supported the override included Reps. Bill Mitchell, R-Forsyth; Jil Tracy, R-Mount Sterling; Rich Myers, R-Colchester; Jim Watson, R-Jacksonville; Gary Hannig, D-Litchfield; Raymond Poe, R-Springfield; Rich Brauer, R-Petersburg; David Leitch, R-Peoria; Aaron Schock, R-Peoria; Donald Moffitt, R-Gilson; Frank Mautino, D-Spring Valley; Mike Smith, D-Canton; and Keith Sommer, R-Morton.

Among those who voted against the override were Reps. Dan Brady, R-Bloomington; and Careen Gordon, D-Coal City.

Dana Heupel can be reached at (217) 788-1518 or dana.heupel@sj-r.com.

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