Park County school board reviews policy to confirm students’ rights to exercise religion
POWELL — The Park County School District 1 board is reviewing a policy on religious freedoms to clear up confusions with teachers on how religious observance can be practiced in the schools.
“I believe that there is a little bit of confusion, and for very good reasons — this has been a little bit of a moving target for many years,” Superintendent Jay Curtis said when presenting the policy for first reading at the Nov. 11 meeting. “Court cases ebb and flow, and I believe that the picture has cleared up somewhat legally, and I think that we owe it to our staff to provide some clarity to them in what we should be allowing students to do while they are on the school grounds, at school activities and during school hours.”
As he explained to trustees at the work session a week prior, there have been a few incidents recently which confused teachers as to what students were allowed to do.
“This is just a step in the right direction to make it clear for all how students are allowed to exercise their religion while they’re at school,” he said.
Basically, students are not restricted. Teachers still have to walk a fine line between being able to display religious observance, such as wearing a cross necklace, while not being able to promote their faith.
This policy only deals with students, Curtis said at the Nov. 4 meeting.
“I have heard a few stories where a student may have wanted to, for instance, choose a Christian song to be played in the classroom, and the misconception is that because it’s a Christian song that it can’t be played. No, if a student chooses it, it actually can, and the courts have actually swung further in that direction to allow students free exercise.”
He said the mistakes have been made by “well-intentioned adults” who were simply unaware of how much rules have changed in recent years.
Curtis said the policy is not intended to limit students, but instead to instruct staff on students’ rights.
The board unanimously approved the policy on first reading Nov. 11. It will be voted on second and final reading at the December board meeting.
“It’s a great policy,” Trustee Ben Borcher said.
Curtis, who spent roughly an hour with the district’s attorney, Scott Kolpitcke, in determining the policy language, said the policy will be shared with all school staff.
“We will send it out to our entire staff to make sure that they all read it, are aware of it, have the ability to provide any comment or input on it, and then hopefully that’s all it would take to get us all on the same page,” he said.
This story was published on Nov. 25, 2025.