Effective September 24, 2022
Moment of Silence Law: House Bill 2707 amending A.R.S. § 15-506
The new Arizona Moment of Silence law requires all K-12 public schools to set aside one to two minutes at the beginning of every school day for a moment of silent reflection. The moment of silence will occur at the very beginning of every school day, prior to classroom instruction.
The law includes the following guidelines:
- Parents are encouraged to discuss with their child how to use the moment of silence.
- Students are prohibited from interfering with other students' participation in the moment of silence.
- interfering means both verbal and non-verbal activities that interrupt/disrupt the moment of silence such as: speaking, making noises, laughing, touching, throwing items, passing notes, using electronic devices, excessive movement, ridiculing, bullying or otherwise trying to embarrass a students for participating in the moment of silence, holding up signs that disparage the moment of silence, waving a flag, playing music, and other activities that interfere/disrupt the moment of silence for others.
- both verbal and non-verbal activities that likely are not interfering activities may include sitting cross-legged on the floor, using hands for prayer, silently reading during the moment of silence, closing eyes during moment of silence, looking at or watching other students participate in the moment of silence.
- any students determined to be interfering with another student's participation in the moment of silence will be referred to the administration for possible disciplinary action (if teacher is unable to immediately end the interference).
- Topics of reflection for the moment of silence are left solely to the student and their parents.
- If students ask their teachers what they should reflect on or what they should use their moment of silence to think about or do, the teacher will respond by telling the student that they should have that conversation with their parents. School personnel are prohibited from providing suggested topics of reflection for the moment of silence.
The moment of silence will be held daily beginning Monday, September 26, 2022. At HJHS, we will hold the moment of silence for 61 seconds immediately following the 8:00am bell. Students will be given a prompt that we will soon begin our moment of silence: "Our moment of silence will begin in 30 seconds". This will be followed by: "HJHS's moment of silence begins now". At the conclusion of the moment of silence we will move into our regular morning announcements routine.
Thank you for reviewing this new Arizona Moment of Silence Law with your child. Your home-to-school partnership is appreciated.
If you have any questions about the new Arizona Moment of Silence Law or how the moment of silence will occur please reach out to Ms. Cheri Grau, HJHS Principal at 928-524-3959 or via email at cgrau@holbrook.k12.az.us