Article June 9, 2003 Issue

A different take on 'school prayer'

By Kathryn Dunton

TRADITIONALLY , Americans think about praying for schools in September when students are beginning or restarting their educations. But in fact the end of the school year warrants as much, if not more, diligent prayer, as students and teachers tire of the daily grind, and pranks and proms abound.

Last month, two young men were arrested in Weston, Massachusetts, for scrawling threatening graffiti on a wall of Weston High School, ominously announcing that a school shooting would occur on the 12th of the month.

Their "harmless prank" (as they called it) brought back chilling memories of past devastating spring attacks in other schools, which were anything but harmless. The threat was taken very seriously by school officials and the police, and many students stayed home from school in Weston on May 12.