Multiple speakers urge McKinney ISD to resist state guidance on displaying religious texts in classrooms
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Summary
Several parents and residents urged the board to protect religious freedom and avoid enforcing Senate Bill 10 requirements that commenters said promote the Ten Commandments in classrooms; speakers cited constitutional cases and urged the district to refrain from disciplining teachers who remove religious displays.
Multiple public commenters at Monday’s McKinney ISD meeting urged trustees to resist what they described as state-level efforts to elevate religious texts in classrooms under Senate Bill 10.
Amber Bateman told the board the issue “is not just about a plaque on a classroom wall” but about whether schools will “distort history to serve a single religious agenda.” Bateman referenced the 1797 Treaty of Tripoli language and said posting the Ten Commandments would amount to state-sanctioned religion and “indoctrination.”
Zach Delaney, a former McKinney teacher, urged the board to protect minority religious rights and asked the district to “do nothing” beyond its current guidance; he cited Stone v. Graham (1980) and asked trustees not to discipline teachers who remove commandments from classroom walls.
Other commenters pushed similar arguments that public schools should not present a single faith as state-endorsed and asked trustees to maintain a neutral environment for students of varying beliefs. The board took public comment on the issue but did not take formal action Monday.
District communications previously advised parents that teachers should refer religion questions to families, and several speakers said that guidance was the appropriate approach.