Yes to Express

JACKSONVILLE-Prayer in school has always been a very controversial topic. Recently one East Texas ISD decided to allow their students to express themselves before football games, even if that means leading the crowd in prayer.

Thanks to a federal law, students have never had to give up their First Amendment rights when they got to school. Now Jacksonville ISD is taking that step a big further.

If you plan to cheer on the Jacksonville Indians during their last two games of the season, the traditional burning of the "J" won't be the only thing that will go on before kick-off.

Thanks to a newly approved amendment, one student per game will be allowed to express themselves in front of the entire crowd. This may be in the form of a prayer or a few words from the heart.

School officials told us students who want to be considered have to sign up and have their name put in a lottery. Those chosen will go to the pressbox and have 30 seconds on the loud speaker to say what's on their heart.

The people we spoke to Monday said that's a good deal.

"I think it would be fine if they wanted to pray before the game and if the student body wanted to follow them in the prayer," Jacksonville business owner, Beverly Hines, said.

Though that sounds harmless enough, there's a catch. Under the adopted policy, there would be no legal way to review what a student will say prior to the expression time.

Officials told us Monday if all goes well, student expression before games might become a standard.