FLINT, Mich., May 16 (UPI) -- A 16-year-old high school student from Flushing, Mich., says she was denied her right to leave class to pray on the National Day of Prayer.
Rachel Osborn says she starting giving notes to administrators at Flushing High School a week before the National Day of Prayer, asking for permission to leave her "study skills" classroom to pray with others at noon on May 4.
But, she told the Flint (Mich.) Journal, she received no answer until the request was rejected on the day of prayer.
For his part, Flushing Principal Gary Whitmire said the school doesn't stand in the way of any student praying -- students are allowed to use school property to pray -- and students are allowed to leave class to worship if they have parental permission. In Osborn's case, he said, the request simply came too late.
Osborn said she is organizing a protest. She told the newspaper she planned to wear a T-shirt stating, "We were denied out right to pray."
