Early childhood program request
Our church has an early childhood program serving about 50 plus children. Recently a parent asked that their son be excused from the classroom when prayers are being said. Our literature given to all parents at enrollment states our beliefs and procedures. The program has children sponsored by state agencies so we do receive government money but have not changed any policy as a result of these children nor have we been asked to. We suspect the parent may be Muslim but has not given that as a basis for the exclusion. Our question is: are we required to comply with the request ? If the child is excused, we will have to provide an adult to be with the child while he is out of the classroom.
If the handbook for your congregation’s early childhood program is typical of other, similar programs in our church body, there is information in the parents’ handbook that addresses this situation.
Handbooks typically state that when parents who do not belong to the congregation enroll their children in our programs, they submit to the stated policies. One of those policies is that if children are not going to participate in devotional activities, they will remain in the room and be respectfully silent. There is no requirement to comply with a request that goes beyond that policy.