American Family Association

Posted 8/21/2014

When a fellow student sitting next to her sneezed last Monday, high school senior Kendra Turner responded with a gentle “bless you.”

For this common courtesy, Kendra was corrected in front of her class by the Dyer County High School typing teacher. The teacher told Kendra, “We will not have Godly speaking in my class!”

At the first of the school year, the teacher specifically prohibited the words “bless you,” along with other words such as “stupid,” “dumb” and “boring” in her class.

When Kendra tried to explain that this automatic response is simply part of her Christian upbringing, the teacher sent her to the office where she was served with an in-school suspension.

Read Kendra’s own words on what happened here.

AFA has learned that while many students are supporting Kendra, some students, a few school personnel and social media sites are speaking against her.

In addition, the administration has changed her schedule and expressed their disapproval of her defending her kind actions toward a fellow student.

American Family Association has  urged citizens to TAKE ACTION.

Contact Dyer County High School superintendent Dwight Hedge and urge the following actions be taken by the school:

  1.       Remove “bless you” or any other courtesy phrases from teacher’s list of banned words.
  2.       Restore Kendra to her class position and erase her record of any wrong-doing.
  3.       Make a public apology for allowing this incident to get out of hand by cavalier administrators.