Elgin unshaken by prayer-in-school lawsuit

By JUAN B. ELIZONDO Jr.
Staff Writer

ELGIN - High school football and baseball brings this community of 4,874 together and, according to many residents, a lawsuit contending that Elgin High athletic director and football coach Eddie Baca violated the constitutional separation of church and state by forcing his players to pray before games won't change that.

"You'd think (from media reports) lines were drawn, but I don't see it at all," Mayor Eric Carlson said. "I don't sense a great deal of trauma."

Baca, in his first year at Elgin, faces a school board hearing tonight to determine if his contract will be renewed.

The contract was up for consideration before the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit on behalf of some students and parents last month. The lawsuit accuses Baca, baseball coach Brad Osborn and two other coaches of bringing their religion into the school's athletic programs.

Among the allegations are that Baca and Osborn led team prayers, played Christian music in locker rooms and posted biblical passages on athletes' lockers.

Osborn's contract tentatively wasn't renewed earlier this month. A final decision is scheduled for tonight. He didn't immediately return a telephone call from The Associated Press seeking comment.

Baca, who has coached in Houston-area schools and in another community outside Austin, admits playing Christian music and leading team prayers. But he said he's never been challenged.

"If someone told us, 'Coach, watch what you're doing' or 'That's against the law,' we wouldn't have done it," he said. "I understand (the separation of) church and state, but with the team it's not so clear."

Baca said he posted only one biblical passage in the Wildcats locker room and never tried to coerce players into attending church.

"I'm a Christian," he said, adding that part of being a Christian is following the law. "I know you can't go into a classroom and open a Bible and say, 'We're going to learn.' But as far as praying with the team, I've been involved with that in every team I've been involved with down to the time I played football."

Baca said he uses prayer and Christian music as a way to provide "an environment conducive to positive living."

"What is the main theme in rock and roll music and country western music," he asked? "Sex, drugs, suicide, gangs. We're not going to have that here. Not because I am a Christian, but because I don't think moral, young people should be exposed to that."

Texas ACLU executive director Jay Jacobson said the law is clear that teachers can't bring religion into schools for any reason.

"All of our plaintiffs are God-fearing Christians. They are not irreligious people," Jacobson said. "What that shows me is the degree to which the religious right has pushed people's buttons. It is not just minority religions being effected."

Jacobson said a settlement agreement is pending between the coaches and students in which the coaches would agree to refrain from religious activities in school and admit to having acted improperly.

Baca said he would sign the agreement if it did not say he coerced and intimidated students. "I want this to be a good testimony," he said.

Biology teacher Melinda Vague said she believes her students who say Baca exerted religious pressures. But she said the issue needs to be resolved so the focus can return to teaching.
"They wouldn't lie to me," Ms. Vague said of her 9th- and 10th-graders at the 600-plus student school. "Talking with teachers on our faculty, we wish the school board would have settled this (by now). It just keeps going and going."

Band director Van Henry said he's unhappy with the attention the lawsuit has brought to the school, about 20 miles east of Austin.

"I wish the media would start emphasizing the good stuff going on in school districts like Elgin, where we have students excelling," Henry said. "We're too busy teaching kids to worry about all this."

Superintendent Ronald Bradford agreed.

"I want to get on to business," he said. "We have a lot of good things going on. We need to settle this lawsuit and make sure we can go on about our business."

Bradford would not discuss the lawsuit or the upcoming board meeting.
Among the more than 40 churches in the community, Rev. Jenna Hall says the issue has not dominated discussions.

Ms. Hall, pastor of Elgin Methodist Church, said she is concerned that the incident will lead teachers to be afraid of anything that could be deemed religious in the schools.

"There are a lot worse problems to have," she said. "I don't want to minimize this, but some high schools are worrying about keeping guns out of the schools."