In this circumstance, the school would not specifically be placing prayer on the agenda and would not be selecting the student for the specific purpose of praying. The school may not even know that the participant would pray until the participant actually stood up and did pray. Again, under this particular option, for the school to prohibit this student participant from praying could be construed as a violation of the First Amendment Free Speech and Establishment Clause in that the school would be restricting speech and showing hostility toward religion. Option Three Similar to option two, prayer could still be conducted at a graduation ceremony if the student body were permitted to elect a student chaplain. This chaplain could be elected by the student body in the same way that the student body elects class officers.
Some schools already elect student chaplains along with the election of other class officers.
As part of the graduation ceremony, the student chaplain could address the student body along with the other officers of the class, and the address could include a prayer. In this manner, the school would not be directly endorsing the school officers since they would be elected by the student body. The school chaplain could certainly be placed on the agenda, and the school should avoid any efforts to guide or direct the prayer or address given by the school chaplain. As an additional factor, the chaplain could announce, or the bulletin could state, that while all are asked to rise for the invocation and benediction, none are compelled to do so. The Court was concerned that school officials specifically placed prayer on the agenda, selected a clergyman, and gave the clergyman guidelines for saying non-sectarian prayers.