JCBE/POLICY FILE: 344.1

Approved: 1/27/77

Revised: 3/25/82

Revised: 1/28/88

RELIGIOUS CONVICTIONS AND GRADING

The Board recognizes the importance of the student's privilege to learn in an atmosphere of academic freedom and is committed to preserving that privilege. Therefore, it shall be the policy of the Board to consider, within the discretion authorized by the rules and regulations of the State Board of Education and public school law (CODE OF ALARAMA, Title

16), the personal religious convictions of students and their parents in the evaluation of student performance of assigned schoolwork.

It shall he the Board's policy to instruct teachers that if the event of a particular assignment requiring the use of written material, attire, association, equipment, physical display, or other matters runs counter to the moral or religious beliefs of the student or the student's parents, the student's failure to perform the assignment shall not adversely affect the grade or evaluation the student receives. Admission to an elective course may be denied if the religious or moral convictions of the student or the student's parents run counter to a central objective of the class.

Upon receipt of a request form (which shall be available to parents through the principal's office signed by the student's parents) explaining which assignment or portion of an assignment is in conflict with the student's and parent's moral or religious beliefs, the teacher shall give the student an alternative assignment. The student's grade or evaluation shall be based on the performance of this alternative assignment.