Bruce Dierenfield is a professor of history at Canisius College in Buffalo, N.Y. He is the author of The Battle Over School Prayer: How Engel v. Vitale Changed America (2007).

Jay Wexler is a law professor at Boston University who specializes in First Amendment issues, including religious expression in public schools and the public square. He speaks on church-state and other constitutional issues across the U.S. and internationally.

J. Richard Ratcliffe is a lawyer in Providence, R.I. As a speaker for the Center for First Amendment Rights in Hartford, Conn., he frequently talks with high school, college and professional groups about the First Amendment.

Jay McIntire is the school superintendent of the Brewer School Department in Maine, which has about 800 students. He approved the use of a “wellness room” in one of his former school district’s public schools as a place where students and staff could go to reduce stress. Parents and others raised concerns that meditation, prayer or another […]

Mongi Dhaouadi is the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Connecticut chapter. He can discuss accommodation of Muslim students in Bridgeport, Conn., schools, which assigned a room for Muslim students during lunches at Ramadan.

Lisa Soronen is the Executive Director of the State and Local Legal Center. She can discuss the various lawsuits brought by Muslims and members of other faiths for religious accommodation in the public schools.

Frank J. Gaffney Jr. is president of the Center for Security Policy, a nonprofit that looks for threats to American security and works to draw public and government attention to those threats. He is a supporter of the Stop the Madrassa Coalition and has been critical of the Khalil Gibran International Academy in New York City.

Stop the Madrassa Coalition was formed after the opening of Khalil Gibran International Academy, a charter school that focuses on teaching Arabic.

Elinor Pierce is a senior researcher at Harvard University’s Pluralism Project.