EAST LIVERPOOL, Ohio — According to WTOV, the prayer has been included in East Liverpool High School's commencement for seven decades. But that tradition looked like it was going to come to an end this year after the Freedom From Religion Foundation told the school to remove the prayer from the program because it violates the separation of church and state.
"We said, 'OK, we just won't do it anymore,'" school board President Larry Walton told WTOV. "It was a decision made because we don't have a lot of money, and we'd rather hire teachers than pay lawyers."