School district suspends lunchtime visits by pastors

June 9, 2006

BEND, Ore. (RNS) Central Oregon's largest school district has suspended a long-standing practice of allowing youth pastors from a local evangelical church to talk to students eating lunch in school cafeterias.

Representatives of Bend's Westside Church had been going to lunches about once a month at four middle schools and three high schools in Bend for about three years, church officials said.

They would check in on students who were part of Westside's youth ministry program, called 180.

"We're just there to visit with the kids and encourage them," said Steve Stern, Westside's youth program coordinator. "We don't have Bible studies or anything."

A few parents found out about the visits from their children and complained to officials at Cascade Middle School and the Bend-La Pine School District.

"For me it's a concern because middle schoolers are so impressionable, and if the school district is going to allow one religion to be represented, they have to allow other religions to be represented, too," said parent Judy Drake.

Bend-La Pine, with 14,675 students, isn't the first place such conflicts have occurred. School districts in Oregon and across the country often struggle with balancing state and U.S. constitutional provisions that protect religious expression while restricting entanglement between church and state.

"They also have to deal with parents," whose opinions on what's appropriate for their children can vary wildly, said attorney Nancy Hungerford. Her Oregon City firm counsels districts across the state on the issue.

School officials called Westside leaders on Tuesday (June 6) and asked them to stop the visits until the district can revise its current visitor and volunteer policies to address the situation.

"There are some really tough legal questions that we have to sort through, and it will lead to a complete review of how we do this," Bend-La Pine Superintendent Doug Nelson said.

Stern, the youth program leader, said the Foursquare Gospel church has complied with all district policies and was happy to acquiesce to the district's suspension of the visits.

"We're not out here to ruffle feathers," he said. "We're just out here to love on kids and let kids know there are people there who care for them."

-- Matthew Preusch