A Nashville School Board Chair Restructured Her District’s School Day Around Islamic Prayer and Has Nothing to Say About It

April 12, 2026 Cat2, Politics
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The Tennessee Senate just passed a bill letting schools optionally hang the Ten Commandments next to the Constitution.

Courts are already moving to block it.

Meanwhile, the Democrat who runs the Nashville school board watched a high school in her own district restructure its entire bell schedule around Islamic prayer – and nobody said a word.

John Overton High School Built a Daily Muslim Prayer Program From Scratch

John Overton High School in South Nashville didn't just accommodate Muslim students during Ramadan.

It built a system around them.

More than 80 students signed up for electronic hall passes to leave class daily for 15 minutes of prayer in a reserved campus space.

Ten teachers converted their classrooms into food-free zones every lunch period for the full 30 days of Ramadan.

A staff member – Al-Nadir Muhammad – was assigned specifically to oversee the prayer sessions and ensure students returned to class promptly.

And the school restructured its bell schedule to make the prayer window work.

Muslim teacher Revas Barwari said it out loud to the Nashville Banner: "What school do you know that actually changes their whole bell schedule to work around students being able to go pray?"

The answer is: one that answers to Rachael Anne Elrod.

Rachael Anne Elrod Runs the Nashville School Board and Has Nothing to Say About It

Elrod is the chair of the Metro Nashville Public Schools Board of Education – a Democrat who has represented District 2 since 2018.

John Overton High School is in District 2.

It's her school.

Neither she nor Principal Kelby Garner returned Fox News Digital's requests for comment.

The American Muslim Advisory Council sent Metro Nashville Public Schools a letter asking administrators to support Muslim students during Ramadan by providing reserved space and exemptions from strenuous physical activity.

The district complied immediately.

Try sending that letter on behalf of your church.

Courts Blocked Ten Commandments in Public Schools While Nashville Added Muslim Prayer to Its Bell Schedule

Courts have blocked Ten Commandments posters in Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas as violations of the Establishment Clause.

Federal judges have killed student-led prayer at football games.

They threw out a 22-word nonsectarian prayer in New York classrooms back in 1962.

Every one of those decisions rested on the same principle – that public schools must not favor one religion over another.

John Overton restructured its bell schedule for one religion.

It cleared ten classrooms of food for one religion.

It assigned a paid staff member to supervise one religion's prayer sessions.

And Elrod – the Democrat whose job it is to oversee all of it – said nothing.

The Left Built This Wall With a Door in It

That's what fires you up when you step back and look at it.

The left spent sixty years building the wall between religion and public schools and made sure it only swings one way.

Tall enough to keep out a football coach kneeling on the field after a game.

Tall enough to block a framed copy of the laws that shaped Western civilization.

But somehow not tall enough to stop a Democrat-run school district from handing 80 Muslim students hall passes out of class every afternoon to pray toward Mecca.

Rachael Anne Elrod is running for a third term in May.

She represents the school that changed its schedule for Islamic prayer and sees no contradiction.

That's not separation of church and state.

That's a thumb on the scale – and every parent in Nashville's District 2 just found out which way it points.

Sources:

  • Kristine Parks, "Nashville public school excuses Muslim students for daily prayer time during Ramadan," Fox News, April 9, 2026.
  • "How Overton High supports Muslim students during Ramadan," Nashville Banner, April 7, 2026.
  • "Accommodation or Imposition? Tennessee's Uneven Line on Religion in Schools," TruthWire News, April 8, 2026.
  • "Tennessee Senate Passes Ten Commandments School Bill," Capitalism Institute, March 2026.
  • "Guidance on Constitutionally Protected Prayer and Religious Expression in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools," U.S. Department of Education, February 2026.
  • Lillian Avedian, "MNPS Board Primary Election: Four Incumbents, three challengers," Nashville Banner, January 15, 2026.