South Carolina Superintendent of Education stirs controversy over “God-given potential” prompt

The head of South Carolina’s Department of Education is on the receiving-end of criticism after local media highlighted concerns about potential First Amendment violations over an email to employees.

The message was sent prior to an upcoming Q-and-A meeting, and asked employees planning to attend to state their goals for their students in a question referencing “God” in the prompt.

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The email was delivered to SCDE employees earlier this month, and instructed recipients to state their name, role, and fill-in the blank for the following prompt: “I believe it is essential for SCDE to provide ______ for every child to reach their full, God-Given potential.”

Llewellyn Sheally, the interim director of the Office of Assessment and Standards within the SCDE, who sent the message, explained while the prompt was written by Superintendent Ellen Weaver, it was only intended for internal employees, and not teachers.

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A Constitutional lawyer, cited in the news outlet’s report, slammed the correspondence as an example of, “the state imposing a religious test on employees, that’s unconstitutional. The first amendment protects your ability to practice religion as you see fit, and that includes the ability not to have a religion and certainly not to have to acknowledge one that the state seeks to impose on you,”

The department provided an explanation for the email, saying in-part: “Superintendent Weaver was speaking from her heartfelt conviction that we are all here to help the children of South Carolina reach their full, God-given potential. Of course, her intent was not to compel religious speech, nor would she.”