After Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said public schools are prohibited from dedicating resources for specific religious worship in response to a question about the accommodations made for Muslim students at John Overton High School, The Pamphleteer reported that another school in Nashville, this time a public charter school, confirmed on Wednesday that it modified its bell schedule for Muslim students to pray.
While many of the accommodations reportedly made for Muslim students at Overton High School were specific to Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, The Pamphleteer reported that an administrator at Valor Collegiate Prep told the outlet his school maintains a modified bell during the entire academic year specifically for Muslim students.
“It is built into our daily bell schedule and occurs at the end of one class period, signaling when students may report for prayer,” reportedly said the school’s principal, Brad Gill, whose account on the professional networking site shows he began working at the publicly funded charter school in 2023. It also shows Gill last worked as an assistant principal for Chicago Public Schools.
After the bell rings, “students who need to pray” are permitted to “report to the gym and pray,” Gill told the outlet.
The reported confirmation comes shortly after The Nashville Banner reported that Overton High School allowed about 80 students to use an electronic hall pass system in order to leave class to attend prayers at a reserved space during Ramadan. It also highlighted efforts by 10 teachers to turn their classroom into a “food-free zone” for Muslim students who were fasting, and the school’s use of its cafeteria for an iftar dinner. Iftar is when devout Muslims break their Ramadan fast at sunset.
Asked whether the reported accommodations at Overton High School constitute a violation of the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution during his Monday appearance on The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, Skrmetti told The Tennessee Star Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy that there is a key distinction between student-led prayer and the use of school resources.
“The basic civil rights laws that apply to education don’t cover religious discrimination. So there may be some other state laws we’ll find out but it fundamentally goes to the difference between the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause,” said the attorney general.
“Free exercise says the government can’t stop you from practicing your religion,” Skrmetti explained.
He added, “The establishment clause as interpreted, and as we hear about every time the legislature tries to do anything these days, says that the state can’t – it says something different, but it’s been interpreted to mean the state can’t participate in promoting particular religious viewpoints.”
Of the reports from Overton High School, he told Leahy, “If the school is dedicating resources to something, that’s a very different situation than if the students are self-organizing.”
The Wednesday confirmation by Valor Collegiate Prep to The Pamphleteer notably comes as the school may already be under scrutiny from the state via the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury, as The Tennessean reported on April 3 that the Valor Collegiate Academies chief operating officer resigned after the company announced its discovery of “a number of financial irregularities.”
In a statement reported by the newspaper, the company’s CEO said he reported the matter to the comptroller’s office for further review.
The Valor Collegiate Academies website states that the school system has 1,900 students enrolled in grades 5-12 across three campuses in Nashville.
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Tom Pappert is a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize and the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star. He also reports for the Star News Network. Follow Tom on X. Email tips to [email protected].
They need to get off our land because we don’t want people here who yell death to America and think they are going to change our laws. Those people don’t and won’t assimilate and have no intentions on doing so. They hate us and our country try seems they are being pandered with. I don’t know any law abiding country loving person who wants these haters here. We want them gone .
So much for a complete seperation of church and state. If ANY Christian’s tried this the ACLU would be in court before the day was out.
Well, there you have it-Nashville public schools being converted into tax payer funded mosques.