The Bayonne High School graduation ceremonies on July 20 were marred by a controversy over the inclusion of a prayer in this year’s Valedictory Address.
Traditionally, the top student of the graduating class speaks during the ceremonies, often expressing feelings about the past and hopes for the future.
But a few days before the June 20 ceremonies, Jeremy Jerschina – this year’s valedictorian – was asked to submit his speech for review.
The speech ended with a prayer to God, which was deemed unacceptable by school officials.
Jacek Jerschina, the father of the high school graduate, said that Jeremy had earlier prepared a speech for an event for top students in the county, and was told to change it then.
“He was told that he could not make the speech with the prayer. My son was asked to remove the prayer. He agreed to remove ‘Dear God,’ but insisted that he end the speech with ‘in Jesus Christ’s name.’ ”
Regarding the Bayonne graduation, Jerschina said, “He thought that he was going to be making the speech, until a day before the ceremony.”
The speech was listed in the official graduating ceremony program, indicating the change came at the last moment.
Was it censorship?
The controversial speech apparently resulted in numerous meetings, including petitions from key people in clubs to which Jeremy Jerschina belonged.
Jerschina’s mother also went to school to talk about the speech.
“We came from Poland during the Communist era,” said Jacek Jerschina. “We had no freedom of speech. We never expected censorship here.”
Apparently, the school district researched the legal precedents, and handed Jeremy a stack of papers as to why they were prohibiting prayer at such events.
“My son did research of his own and came up with a stack that said he could,” Jacek Jerschina said.
Rather than remove the prayer entirely, the valedictorian decided to not make the speech at all, and though he accepted accolades as the top student for the graduating Class of 2007, he agreed to make no reference to the missing speech or to protest from the podium.
A devout Christian, Jeremy Jerschina has been deeply involved with various programs throughout high school, and had originally planned to pursue a degree in theology, his father said. While he will likely still seek a Master’s in Divinity, with the ambitions of some day become the pastor of a Christian congregation, Jerschina is seeking a double major from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich. in Philosophy and Greek Language.
In researching against the restriction, Jerschina cited the American Center for Law and Justice.
While the U.S. Supreme Court said that inviting clergy to give prayers at a commencement or organizing prayer at a graduation or school sporting event violated the Constitution, religious speech is protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution, and the school administration can only prohibit protected speech by students when it “materially and substantially interfere[s] with the requirements of appropriate discipline in the operation of the school.”
According to arguments presented in Jerschina’s research, “if students have been granted freedom to compose their own speeches (e.g., valedictorian or salutatorian addresses), protected student expression should not be subjected to censorship because of its religious viewpoint.”
Although Jerschina voluntarily withdrew the speech, he said he does feel deprived of his opportunity to speak to his class and to say what he wants.
“I would have liked to have spoken, and I do feel deprived from saying what I truly feel,” he said. “While I could have spoken, it would not have been what I truly felt.”
He said some students and teachers have rallied to his side on the issue.
School district has a differing opinion
Schools Superintendent Dr. Patricia McGeehan said the school’s legal staff reviewed the matter and determined that the prayer could not be allowed.
“As a matter of law, the Bayonne School District cannot officially sanction or authorize the presentation of sectarian prayer at its graduation ceremony,” she said. “As a matter of policy and longstanding practice, all student speeches at graduation ceremonies are reviewed in advance by the school administration. In the past, suggested revisions have been accepted by students without incident. This year, after reviewing the valedictorian speech, the school administration had concerns with one minor section of the speech that included a sectarian, proselytizing prayer. After reviewing its legal obligations, the school administration advised the student that he would have to remove the one section of his speech that was legally prohibited. Although the student was given the opportunity to revise his speech so that it could be presented during the ceremony, he opted not to do so.”
Several other officials connected with the school said the legal sticking point had to do with the foreknowledge of the prepared speech. Since the school reviews the speech, the district risked being in violation of the law.
McGeehan noted that Jerschina was still acknowledged as valedictorian during the graduation ceremony.
“While the Bayonne School District has the utmost respect for the student’s convictions, and would have preferred to have the student present what is a very moving and heartfelt speech, as a public institution the Bayonne School District must follow the law and must sometimes make very difficult decisions to insure that it meets its legal obligations,” McGeehan said.
Text of Jeremy Jerschina’s Valedictory Address
Welcome faculty, parents, friends, students, graduates, Core Four, and other honored guests.
You all know tonight is a special night. You all know that it took us four years of hard work to finally get up on this stage to accept our diplomas. And you all know we are excited to graduate and spend some time with our friends and families. And so, tonight, to keep this relatively brief, I would just like to speak about one of the most striking and unique elements of our high school experience – the great significance of one’s background – namely their ethnicity.
At the beginning of the past century reigned the harkening towards cultural assimilation – America was, as Israel Zangwill called it, “God’s Crucible, the great melting pot.” In that century, America itself was melted and reformed by countless conflicts and movements, as well as a somewhat-unwilling emergence from beneath a protective shroud of isolationism. In fact, these changes were so dramatic, that in the latter portion of the bygone 20th century, former President Jimmy Carter declared of America, “We become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic.”
The magnificent shift in perspective is one that we cannot help but realize, especially in this highly diversified metropolitan area, in which we daily live the mosaic. Indeed, each one of us is an infinitesimal element of this brilliant intricacy.
Thus our individual ethnicity impacts us and those around us. Every facet of our fragment of the whole was sculpted, directly or indirectly, by our race, culture and family, and accordingly, so was our contribution to the totality of the magnificent work which is our world.
This connectivity through diversity is something that we ought to appreciate, something we ought to value.
We should, first of all, realize this on a personal level. We should acknowledge, as individuals, what particular traits were most shaped by our ethnicities. Whether it be a strong work ethic or outspokenness, determination or an inclination [to] objectivity, a strong moral foundation or creativity, we should be grateful and aware of the positive influence our cultures had, and continue to have, on us.
Moreover, we should realize and appreciate this whole mosaic formation concept on an interpersonal and universal level. The strength that emanates from multiplicity is one of the greatest elements of the vigor of America, and, ultimately, of the vitality of humanity.
Honor this diversity, but do not be strangled by political correctness, which tends to insult diversity more than it intends to support it; appreciate your own background, understand its history, learn from it, and thus let the roots of your life penetrate deep into the wellsprings of human understanding.
I’d like to end in prayer:
Dear God,
I am to You forever grateful for Your Creation. You placed Your eternal Hand upon the Earth and created Man. You have created him of every tongue and race, and gave him the capacity to grasp at least some of the vast multiplicity which You precisely engineered.
Thank You, Lord, for bringing us together tonight to celebrate both our achievements and those individuals who have helped lead us to this level of accomplishment.
Also, lest we forget about You in the midst of our individual successes, I ask You impart in us an understanding and remembrance of Your omnipresent power and might.
Lord, I pray that You guide, protect and bless us.
I give You all praise and honor for Your Creation, for Your love, for Your mercy, and for the life that You proffer to us daily. In Jesus Christ’s Name, Amen.