A Tuesday service seeks blessings for Lebanon board, teachers, students

LEBANON - The Lebanon Ministerial Association is sponsoring a dedication service Tuesday to pray for the Lebanon Community School District and its leadership. The public is invited.

The service starts at 6 p.m. in the auditorium of Lebanon High School. Prayers will be offered for the school board, administrators, teachers, parents, students and staff.

Ministers are inviting school district employees to dinner at the high school prior to the service.

Pastor Dan DeSaulnier of the Lebanon Evangelical Church said Kim Fandino, a Spanish teacher at the high school and president of the Lebanon Education Association, suggested the ceremony and will lead part of the worship.

"She approached some of us pastors and asked what we thought about it," he said. "We got all excited about it."

Fandino said she had the idea a few years ago, when tensions in the district were higher, but a service never came together.

This year, she said, she brought the request back to the ministerial association and asked, "How about a positive blessing and a looking forward, like a dedication?"

"It's like baccalaureate for grownups," she added. "We're coming together, we're praying for each other and we're looking toward the future."

Graduating seniors often are invited to a baccalaureate service, featuring a farewell sermon intended to bless them as they move on in life.

These types of services are legal, even if held on school grounds, as long as attendance is voluntary and the space is also open to other community groups, said Jake Weigler, communications director for the Oregon Department of Education.

"Generally there's two tests for events like this: one is whether the school opens itself for other community groups to meet in that space," Weigler said. "The other is whether students are compelled to attend. In a case like this, where it's after hours, that wouldn't be a problem."

That's true, legally speaking, said Dave Fidanque, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon. However, he questions the judgment of school district officials in their participation and the way the service is being advertised.

The flyer advertising the event is headlined, "Lebanon School District Dedication Service," it's being held at the high school and school employees are leading part of the worship, all of which, Fidanque said, gives the impression the district is organizing the service. Only the small print at the very bottom indicates the ministerial association's sponsorship.

"Public schools have to be a place where children of all faiths and children of no faiths need to feel welcomed and embraced," Fidanque said. "Events like this draw lines and imply that families and students who attend this event will be part of the 'in' crowd and tend to ostracize people of other faiths and other religious beliefs."

Staff members have a constitutional right to take part, he agreed, but should understand that by doing so, "it sends a message to teachers and other students that people of other faiths are not welcome."