NASHVILLE – The annual
high school homecoming
parade will be held next
Wednesday, a school official
confirmed.
Nashville Superintendent
Doug Graham confirmed that
the 2015 Homecoming Parade
will be held Wed., Oct. 21 at 5
p.m. “We’ll have everybody
ready to go to church by 5:30
p.m.,” he added. Graham
explained that the reason for
the move was because “in the
last several years the homecoming
parade has been
held on a Tuesday evening
and we have Parent/Teacher
conferences [that night]”
and several of the maids are
on the tennis team – which
has now qualified for a state
tournament in Jonesboro.
The tournament will be held
on Monday and Tuesday.
“Wednesday was the only
time that there was a window
of time that everybody in
royalty, football, and band”
could participate. He added
that there was a conflict on
every other night. “It’s no
secret that one of the [Homecoming]
Maids is fighting a
serious cancer and receiving
chemo therapy. Trying to be
understanding to her schedule
played a part. “Wednesday
was the only window of
time that would best serve all
involved. Next year, we can go
back to Tuesday.”
The Nashville School District
also issued a statement
regarding prayer at the next
game. On Friday, The Scrappers
will host Ashdown in a regular conference
game. The Ashdown School
District recently received
a letter from the Freedom
from Religion Foundation
of Madison, Wi., challenging
the prayers before the
school’s football games as
a violation of student’s First
Amendment rights.
The NSD statement read,
“We will have our normal
Scrapper pre-game this Friday
night. The pre-game
activities will include a
student led prayer along
with the National Anthem
and alma maters from both
schools. At the end of all of
our games, our team circles
up and has a prayer led by
one of our players. We invite
the Ashdown football team,
cheerleaders, and any fans
to join us during this time.
Good luck to both teams.”
“Obviously, anyone that
has attended a Scrapper
football game knows that
we have prayed before and
after every contest, so, I am
not sure why that has been
such a point of contention,”
Graham explained.
“We have been in contact
with the Ashdown Administration
and invited their
football team, cheerleaders
and fans to join us in prayer
led by one of our football
players after the contest as
usual,” he ended
