Members of the Octorara Area school board, saying they were obligated to obey the law and did not want to spend tax dollars on a lawsuit, began Monday night's school board meeting with a moment of silence rather than the Lord's Prayer.

The prayer was dropped from the agenda last week on advice from legal counsel after the board received a challenge in a letter from the Madison, Wis.-based Freedom From Religion Foundation, which termed prayer at school board meetings a violation of the Constitution.

School board vice president Brian Norris said Monday that the board also had received a challenge from the Anti-Defamation League. He read an official, legally vetted statement from the board saying it would like to honor the tradition of the community it serves. The school board has recited the Lord's Prayer prior to the Pledge of Allegiance for decades.

Norris said the board must honor the law and recent district court rulings that have found spoken prayers to be a violation of the Constitution. He said the school board was counseled that its members could meet privately to pray before each school board meeting.

Three school board members, however, stepped down from the official table to protest the change.

Board member John McCartney Jr. walked to the end of the table and knelt in prayer as the school board began its new tradition of a moment of silence.

"Religious freedoms have been flipped on us," said Leon Lapp Jr., who said he was speaking as a citizen rather than as a school board member.

Lapp said the Constitution protects the freedom to practice religion, not freedom from religion. He said those who attacked the board on this issue were building up their resumes, and it bothers him that the school board has to "run like a dog with its tail between its legs."

Norris stepped away from the table and read a statement from school board president Lisa Bowman, who was out of town.

Bowman said that while citizens may choose to protest laws, the school board is "obligated and bound to obey the law.

"The board should not put the district at risk," she wrote. "It could affect taxpayer and student programming."

Highland Township resident Jim Lantz also spoke, saying that Thomas Jefferson and the nation's founding fathers were deeply religious.

"If we don't stand up for the truth, what are we standing up for?" he asked.

In personnel matters the school board hired: Natalie Ergler as a lunchroom/playground supervisor, Sara Gallo-Cornell as a long-term substitute high school art teacher, Maria Miller as an elementary instructional assistant, Rachel Schreiber as a lunchroom/playground aide, Karen Williamson as a second-grade teacher at the Primary Learning Center and Tracy Villa as business manager secretary.

Also approved were Ben Creighton as a high school instructional assistant, Amy Ellsworth and Rosemary Imms as alternative education program instructional assistants, a $500 stipend for Deb Canby for writing a successful grant for iPads, and resignations from instructional assistants Carolynn Ireson and Kelly Reuter.

Finally, the school board approved a culinary arts club, lease agreements for copiers, spending $4,567 for Atomic Learning for staff, and Althouse Transportation's bus drivers and bus runs.