The Supreme Court of the United States has held that a public body or a deliberative body who chooses to open its sessions with a religious invocation has a secular purpose for doing so -- to solemnize the event -- and that's perfectly acceptable. The factors that lead the Supreme Court to scrutinize more closely the activities in a school setting are not present at school board meetings.

95

The test is not whether a school board is an integral part of a school system.

77