What the narrative behind Joe Kennedy missed about Bremerton schools

“That was another death threat,” our high school secretary said to me after hanging up the phone. She managed an exhausted smile, then asked how she could help.

I fibbed, telling her that I just figured out the answer to my question. This was my ninth year teaching but only my first week at the Bremerton School District, the year after a coach named Joe put the district in the national news by praying on the football field after games. The phone rang again, but I didn’t wait around to find out if it was another death threat.

I took a wrong turn out the office door. Bremerton had a bigger campus than the small, conservative town in Eastern Washington where I spent my first years of teaching. Fortunately, the school’s knight mascot, an empty suit of armor encased in plexiglass, reminded me to turn right and head down the stairs to my classroom.

Hand-painted posters hung everywhere, colorful advertisements offering information about different clubs and sports on campus. I paused in the empty stairwell to read a few; they make good conversation topics with kids. Plus, clubs are a great way for students to take a leadership role in something they are passionate about. I took note of one poster advertising a Christian faith-based club.

Back in my classroom, I plowed through my emails, deleting the constant spam they warned us about in staff meetings. We were also given a heads up about cameramen setting up across the street. I could see them through my classroom windows, people with an agenda, trying to go viral by selling outrage on the internet.

Read more: For a leader in Bremerton’s Jewish community, Kennedy ruling isn’t a win for religious freedom

The first half of my day over, I left the high school to teach at the middle school across town, passing the suit of armor on my way out the door. Behind the armor, a local faith-based coffee shop sold sandwich wraps to hungry high schoolers.

I arrived at the middle school during their lunch. Here, students opened their milk cartons beside five-foot-tall speakers while theatre lights hovered high above their heads. These were the remnants of last Sunday’s church service. At the time of the controversy the middle school was renting the cafeteria/auditorium to a popular new church just come to town. One of the middle school secretaries invited me to attend once, saying it was “a powerful service.”

The middle school ended its day an hour after the high school. That meant my first class at the high school started during second period. Before the bell rang, signaling the start of my first morning class, I usually found a quiet moment to prepare myself. This meant saying a quiet prayer. First, I gave thanks for my job, my health, and a bunch of neat kids that enjoyed my class. Then I asked for patience and understanding, hoping that I would make the right decisions, especially the quick ones that bombard even the most well-planned teachers. The kids didn’t know that I prayed; it was a personal thing.

Many of the teachers, administrators, and support staff that I met — the same people who received those spam emails and death threats — were people of faith, and knowing that, I think it is safe to say that many of us pray at school. Most never mention it; as public servants, an extension of the government, we are not allowed to show a preference towards or against one faith or religion. One just finds these things out through the community.

I don’t teach anymore. My flaws, the splinters in my own eye, need too much work. But I care about my community and the narrative created by those people behind the camera. I also care about Joe and wish him the best; after all, he was a member of the community where I was born and raised. His wife, a district employee, was always kind to me.

I worry about the details that the cameramen outside my classroom window missed, though, including the amount of accommodation Bremerton School District gave the Christian community. The Christian clubs, the coffee shop selling lunch wraps, and the church holding services in the middle school cafeteria are all within the district’s legal boundaries. I don’t know what more the Bremerton school district could legally do. The small, conservative town that I spent my first eight years teaching didn’t have these things. My old principal, another church going man, would liken it to opening a can of worms; once the worms got out, they would be difficult to get back in.

'I haven't stopped smiling once': Joe Kennedy reacts to Supreme Court decision in prayer case

What about the administrators, teachers, and support staff? They are good people. Those death threats cause stress, sapping some of the energy needed to serve kids.

Speaking of kids, I also worry that this whole thing is playing out like a messy divorce where the adults are forcing kids to choose between mom and dad. On one side, the Supreme Court just ruled in favor of Joe and his prayer, and that the school district may have to pay his attorney fees. What kind of example are we setting for kids? On the other side, I just watched my favorite late night comedian making jokes about the ruling. He mentioned the local Satanic church coming to a game. Then, he made a joke about the team’s playing ability. Who makes jokes at the expense of children?

Related: Coach Kennedy gets day in the Supreme Court, drawing national floodlight to local debate

That comedian needs to know that the Satanic church already came to a game in 2015. They should also know that Bremerton is a Navy town. Many students live in single-parent households for months at a time because one of their parents is out to sea. Sometimes this causes messy divorces.

Then there are the students whose parents come from the countries around the world where we have Navy bases. These parents serve a country that may or may not give them full citizenship after their service is up. These families speak multiple languages, have different values.

I don’t agree with Joe, but believe that he had his kids’ best interest in mind when he kneeled; he wanted them to succeed. Also, our schools need all the community support they can get.

But let’s return to the hand-painted club posters on the walls. Good club advisers and school staff members help students take the leadership role and allow students to bring their own experiences, beliefs and values to the table. Most of the staff members at Bremerton School District, many of them people of faith, do just that. However, back in 2015, these details didn’t fit the agenda of the cameramen outside my classroom window.

Carl Bivens is a writer and a Kitsap County native.

This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Bremerton High School coach Kennedy prayers: What the narrative missed