Lunch Lady Reportedly Tells 5-Y-O Girl Not to Pray for Her Lunch: 'It's Not Good' (VIDEO)

By Jared Freeman, Tuesday, April 01, 2014

Marcos Perez of Oviedo, Fla. and his wife were talking to their 5-year-daughter about her day at school when she recounted a story that shocked them. The girl, whose name is being withheld by the family, told her parents that she was praying over her lunch when a lunch lady stopped her.

"The lunch teacher said, 'You're not allowed to pray,'" she said. "I said, 'It's good to pray. She said, 'It's not good.'"

Perez, vice president of sales at a Christian book publisher Charisma House, uploaded the video to Youtube, and the story spread.

Seminole County school officials say they haven't found any witnesses to corroborate the incident.

"We don't have a policy against student prayer at all," district spokesman Michael Lawrence said.

After the media ran with the story, Liberty Institute, a religious liberty firm in Plano, Tex., offered to represent the family, asking for an apology and a closer look into the incident.

Perez and his wife have since pulled their daughter out of school to homeschool her.