White Oak Drops Scripture Readings from Morning Announcements

WHITE OAK — An East Texas school district will no longer include Biblical scripture as a part of its “Thought for the Day” morning announcements. According to KETK and the Longview News-Journal, White Oak Superintendent Michael Gilbert says Principal Dan Noll will continue his daily positive message, but it will not contain any scripture. Gilbert suggested “adjustments” would be made to the daily intercom announcements by Noll but didn’t specify what those would be. “It [Thought for the Day] will consist of material intended to encourage students to consider positive choices in their daily life and plans for the future,” Gilbert said. “The thought for the day will come from a variety of sources and will not include chapter and verse from Scripture.”

The superintendent posted this statement on his school blog on Wednesday: “I want everyone to know that I have read each comment posted on this site. The decision to leave comments open was not arbitrary nor unintended. To each of you that have taken the time to express your views, thank you.”

Reaction has been mixed since the issue first came to light earlier this month, after a student objected to the scripture readings and his grievance found its way to the Freedom from Religion Foundation. Social media have been flooded with responses, most of them positive, but the Freedom from Religion Foundation said the scripture readings left WOISD open to a lawsuit.