Since when can people vote to inflict a religious belief on everyone in attendance at a school sponsored event?
Seems that the federal guidelines over what is permitted at school events were blatantly ignored to appease the vocal majority.

I was wondering what the plaintiff requests as a settlement?

What a JOKE!!! Whats next, a law suit to prevent prayer in church? How obsurd!! No one told these losers they HAD to pray, no one held their heads down and made them pray. The Bible speaks of this it even goes as far as to say that Christains will be persecuted for speaking his name. These losers have nothing to lose by praying anf believing in God b ut they have everything to lose by not. Eternaty is a LONG time my friends. You all had better wise up before it is too late. Matthew, you and your friends need to pray for eachother, truely pray, and you will see just how good it feels and how much at peace you will be. Do it now before it is too late!!!

This reminds me of a Southpark episode where they had to cover the entire town because everyone was offended by something. To the suing parent: What are you really teaching your kids? What if your kids get a C but feel that they deserve an B? Sue the teacher or maybe the school district? What about a family praying at a government facility cafeteria? Does that offend you? Who are you going to sue then?

You don't sue because you don't agree with something. Your kids are going to have a great deal of issues when they get out into the real world from what you are teaching them.

Let's talk about democracy here... soon these ridiculous people will be suing the US as a whole because the majority vote for president wasn't who they wanted in office. ARE YOU KIDDING ME???

My initial gut reaction to this story when it first broke was to defend religious faith. After doing some research, prayer in schools has been ruled unconstitutional since the Engle and Abington case precedents of 1962 and 1963 respectively. Banning prayer specifically at graduation was upheld by the US Supreme Court at Lee vs. Weisman 1992.

Apparently there’s nothing that can be done to reverse the decisions. Recently, a school district in San Antonio Texas settled before going to trial.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Medina-Valley-ISD-settles-prayer-suit-3198656.php

The settlement included a litany of actions that the district would undertake to eradicate religious observance during school activities. Also included was a $125,000 cash payment to the plaintiff’s attorneys, Americans United for Separation of Church and State. There is language in this particular settlement that was accepted that would allow mention of God during the student commentary portion of a graduation. In 1993 graduation at a Midwestern high school, a group of students remained standing, and then recited the Lord’s Prayer in unison, perfectly legal.

The upsetting thing to me is that District Five is in a tight spot. The Board has to choose to settle or fight it out in court, anyway this goes the taxpayers loose. Attorney fees and a settlement could cost millions.

This student used his earned opportunity to give thanks....thanks to the God whom he and many other students believe deserves all the credit for their successes. Non Christians believe they are soley responsible for their successes. One of the non-Christian students said: "I looked toward the superintendent and let the time pass. I was obviously not a part of that part of the graduation ceremony." That "part" of the ceremony was the ONLY Christian based part, so the rest of it was NON-Christian based, yet Christians are NOT suing because they were "not a part of the graduation ceremony." If a non christan thanked his Mom or Dad...or read a poem about how they achieved success (without God), does that give Christians a right to sue also? What if the students, during the ceremony, presented an award to a teacher/staff member who had helped them in school.....could a student who didn't know that teacher/staff member sue because it wasted some of their precious time? The school district did NOT require or even produce the prayer, they simply allowed the students to thank the "person" that the majority of them felt helped them the most. And obviously that student earned the right to speak at graduation and thank whoever he wanted. Just because you don't know the "person" he thanked doesn't give you the right to sue.

This is a pretty simple case, as mentioned by another poster, prayer at Graduation ceremonies is unconsitutional. Our constitution cannot be dismissed due to the results of a school ballot. The point of the constitution is to protect minorities from the tyranny of the masses.
The school is going to lose big here - they've not only violated the law they've knowingly done so after being warned ahead of time. The school decision makers who allowed this to happen should be held accountable for their reckless and irresponsible law-breaking, they should be fired.

"The point of the constitution is to protect minorities from the tyranny of the masses." But today it appears its the tyranny or the few. It was a prayer not an indoctrination. This is such a minor issue that is taking time, energy and money away from real issues. These kids are going to be around tons of other people who pray. Or you may even sit down to a meal with someone who likes to say grace before eating. What are they going to do? Go get a lawyer? How about just sit there and respect their choice. The whole separation of church and state has been hugely taken out of it's original context that it's not funny anymore.