School Committee Weighing Four Offers for New Prayer Banner Home

So far, the School Committee has four choices for a new home for the prayer banner slated to come down from the wall at Cranston High School West.

School Committee President Andrea Iannazzi said today "all offers will be taken back to the School Committee for review."

District officials had indicated earlier this week that the banner was to come down this week while students were away on February vacation.

But today, lawyers agreed to an extension that will let the banner remain where it is, covered by wood, for another few weeks. The deadline for the district to file against the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union's request for $173,000 in repayment of legal fees is now March 5.

Once the judgement is reached, the school has 10 days to remove the banner, which is expected to cost about $1,000.

So far the district has received offers from the Cranston YMCA, Immaculate Conception school, St. Mary's Feast Society and a business owner in Pawtuxet Village to accommodate the banner once it is removed.

The School Committee last week voted 5-2 to not file an appeal of the Superior Court ruling by Judge Ronald Lagueux instructing the district remove the banner on grounds it violates the Establishment Clause of the Constitution.