Dear readers, 

I stumbled upon the idea for my story about a battle over school prayer in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, in May 2022. I was reporting about something else when a source mentioned the Bossier Parish case in passing. Nationally, the tension over religion’s place in public schools soon reached a boiling point, with the Supreme Court ruling in June in favor of Bremerton, Wash., football coach Joseph Kennedy’s right to pray at midfield after games ended. 

To me, the timing was perfect to investigate what had happened in Bossier Parish. I’d read the lawsuit that Americans United for Separation of Church and State had filed on behalf of three families against the Bossier Parish School Board in 2018. The parents in 2019 won the suit accusing the school system of promoting Christianity in violation of the First Amendment’s establishment clause. How, I wondered, were religious minorities and atheists faring now? And would the Kennedy ruling, and the rightward shift of U.S. courts, open up the door to more promotion of Christianity in schools like those in Bossier?

When I touched down in Bossier Parish last fall, I was struck by how it felt both cosmopolitan and rural, with a bubble tea cafe like one in my Boston suburb, but with the farms and fields I remember from my youth in rural Ohio. In other ways, it felt entirely unfamiliar: one day I spotted the snout of an alligator while kayaking in a lake. 

My biggest reporting challenge was finding people in Bossier willing to share their experiences. Historically, plaintiffs suing school systems over prayer issues have faced hate mail and threats. I asked Richard Katskee, then the legal director for Americans United, if he could connect me to the Does, four parents from three families in the lawsuit. It took nearly a month to land an interview with one, who only agreed to talk if kept anonymous. Then, Katskee heard from a second plaintiff. That person was Jeb Baugh, who is featured in my story.

I interviewed clergy of different faiths, and asked each if they knew of a Bossier Parish family with more recent experiences in the schools. I eventually lucked out with a tip from the religious education director of the Unitarian church. She led me to Jennifer Russell, who is the first person the reader meets in my article. The story that Russell and her daughter told me was poignant and troubling; the middle schooler said she’d experienced teacher-led prayer in her classroom even after the court order that was meant to end it. That proselytizing eventually drove Russell and her family out of Bossier Parish altogether – in 2022, they moved across the Red River to nearby Shreveport.

I also tried to meet in person with the school district superintendent. Before leaving for Louisiana, I’d called his office and the public relations liaison several times with no luck. On my trip, someone else I was interviewing texted a high-level administrator for me and, shortly after, the school board attorney was calling me on my cell. Now at least I had the other side. I also dug up old radio interviews with a former Bossier Parish schools superintendent, who defended school prayer as a way to preserve the area’s “values,” and I sat down with local residents and clergy who supported school prayer.

Given a Supreme Court with more justices open to that view, I expect we’ll see many more battles like the one in Bossier in the years to come. Just this week, a governor-appointed statewide virtual school board in Oklahoma approved what is likely the nation’s first religious charter school, setting off protests that the move was unconstitutional. I hope you’ll read my story, which also appears in the June issue of The New Republic, and share it with others. I’d also love to hear your questions and feedback, so don’t hesitate to get in touch. You can reply directly to this email. 
 
–  Linda K. Wertheimer