The Hawthorne public school board, which is still fighting a state Supreme Court decision to comply with the U. S. Supreme Court ban on required prayer and Bible reading in school classrooms, indicated today it would accept 3,000 book covers with a nondenominational prayer for pupils.
The book covers will be distributed by an American Legion post for use of Hawthorne’s school children. The Rev. Jerry Van Der Veen, a Methodist minister who is president of the Board of Education, said that there was no legal barrier to the children reading the prayer to themselves at the start of classes.
Legion Post 190 officials said they would start distribution of the book covers this week and that they hoped to circulate the book covers to other parts of New Jersey later. The covers will be given to members of the Parent-Teachers Association to take home to their children.
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