Arkansas school district bans Christian music in school buses

A Siloam Springs school bus driver was told by the school district to cease playing Christian music while transporting students.

According to 5News, a parent reached out to the Siloam Springs School District to request the driver to stop playing anything that might be considered religious. School district superintendent Ken Ramey said a delay in communications caused the parent to contact the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), which sent a letter to the district on Sept. 30.

The complaint stated that the driver had been listening to KRLC, a local radio station that plays contemporary Christian music, while students were onboard the bus. The FFRF asked the school district to make sure that its resources were not used to broadcast anything religous.

The group emphasized that public schools were not allowed to endorse any religion and pointed to cases in which the courts ruled in favor of the separation of education and religion.

"Public school bus drivers are agents of the school district and are subject to the same constitutional restrictions as other district staff, including the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment," the FFRF wrote.

Ramey indicated that the school will comply with the request.

"We understand that the students on the bus are in a contained situation and under the establishment clause we're supposed to be religiously neutral," Ramey told 5News. "So, we see this as a verifiable incident that can be corrected," he added.

He said the driver had already been informed about the issue and other district staff were also reminded to avoid any religious materials when they were around students. He believed the driver did not mean any harm by tuning in to the Christian radio station.

"We'll just simply be educating our people, bring it to the conscious level," Ramey said. "Just really good people who have no intent to promote religion, it's just who they are," he continued.