SEQUIM – He’s known by some around the country as the no-prayer guy. Bill Bentley, candidate for Sequim School District superintendent, received national attention – and criticism from Christian groups – in March when he was involved in suspending 11 students who’d held morning prayer circles at Heritage High School.
Heritage is part of the 25,000-student Evergreen School District in Vancouver, Wash., where Bentley is one of three assistant superintendents.
“Those students were not suspended because they were praying,” Bentley said during a public forum Wednesday night in the Sequim High School Library.
“They were very loud and vocal . . . in a commons area, and they were repeatedly asked to move someplace else.”
He later told The Columbian newspaper in Vancouver that the suspensions were a “non-story.”
When Bentley rose to address about 25 Sequim educators, parents and community members Wednesday, he said, “I feel like I’m in church. Everybody’s sitting in the back rows.”
Elna Kawal, a veteran volunteer in Sequim schools and former School Board member, asked whether he might say a prayer.
“We may have to,” Bentley joked.
