The Bremerton School District (BHS) in Washington has booted out Bremerton High School assistant football coach Joe Kennedy after he continued conducting post-game prayers in defiance of previous orders for him to stop this practice.
The District said it was forced to place Kennedy on administrative leave because of his "refusal to comply with the District's lawful and constitutionally required directives that he refrain from engaging in overt, public religious displays on the football field while on duty as a coach."
It said while it "appreciates Kennedy's many positive contributions to the BHS football programme, and therefore regrets the necessity of this action, Kennedy's conduct poses a genuine risk that the District will be liable for violating the federal and state constitutional rights of students or others."
In a letter dated Oct. 28, Superintendent Aaron Leavell told Kennedy, "Effective immediately, pending further District review of your conduct, you are placed on paid administrative leave from your position as an assistant coach with the Bremerton High School football programme."
"You may not participate, in any capacity, in BHS football programme activities," the school district ordered, according to Fox News.
The coach has been under investigation since September after a complaint surfaced on his post-game prayers at the 50-yard-line.
The District, however, said Kennedy's prayers "were not known to District administrators until an employee of another district mentioned the post-game prayers to a District administrator. That administrator recognised the clear legal issues presented by these activities, and this prompted the District's inquiry and subsequent directives."
Kennedy was ordered to stop prayers on Sept. 17 and avoid kneeling, bowing his head or anything that would be seen as religious.
"You violated those directives by engaging in overt, public and demonstrative religious conduct while still on duty as an assistant coach," Leavell told him.
The District offered Kennedy the option to conduct prayers at a private location including within the school building, athletic facility or at the Memorial Stadium press box.
It will allow the prayers "so long as your brief, private religious exercise would not interfere with your performance of your continuing duties as an assistant coach."
Liberty Institute's lawyer Hiram Sasser criticised the school district's action, saying it is "sending the message to all people of faith that they are not welcome."
Kennedy declined to make a comment, but Mike Berry, Liberty Institute senior counsel in Plano, Texas, answered on his behalf.
Berry said the group is "prepared to take the necessary legal actions to defend Coach Kennedy's religious freedom," adding that "his religious expression is not something he should hide or be ashamed of."
Another Liberty lawyer called the paid leave a hostile employment action, saying that the group would file a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
The case has drawn national attention in the US. On Tuesday, 47 members of Congress sent a letter of support for Kennedy to the district.
Kennedy started doing the prayer sessions first by himself in 2008. The sessions then grew to include players, fans and other coaches.
