Florida Parents Say 5-Year-Old Daughter Was 'Not Allowed to Pray' During School Lunch Time [Video]

A Florida family is outraged that an educator at a public school allegedly told their 5-year-old daughter that she was "not allowed to pray" when she tried to say grace over her lunch.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, Gabriella Perez told her parents that a "lunch teacher" at Carillon Elementary School in Oviedo stopped her when she bowed her head in prayer at lunch time on March 10.

Shocked by his daughter's story, Marcos Perez recorded the little girl relaying the incident on video and posted it on YouTube. The video quickly went viral and began to garner national media coverage.

"My lunch teacher told me that, when I was about to say something, she said, 'You're not allowed to pray,'" says the kindergartener in the video. In response, Gabriella says she told the teacher that "It's good to pray," but the teacher replied saying, "It's not good."

After posting the video, the father contacted the principal, but Seminole County Public Schools officials have denied that the child's story. Principal Analynn Jones said she spoke to staff who could were in the cafeteria at the time and could not find anyone who could support the child's claims.

District spokesman Michael Lawrence also clarified that the school does not "have a policy against student prayer at all." He told WKMG Local 6 that "The situation as stated by the parent has not occurred according to the school's investigation...We're dealing with very young children here so there's quite a bit of an opportunity for miscommunication to occur. The timing and the issues were very odd considering that the first thing that happened was that a video was done, it was on YouTube."

Nonetheless, the Oviedo parents continue to stand by their daughter's version of the story and held a news conference Tuesday near the school. "She wanted to pray, but she's a rule-follower," said Kathy Perez, Gabriella's mother. "I told her she did the right thing. I don't doubt for a minute that my daughter is telling the truth."

The family is being represented by a Texas-based religious-rights law firm called the Liberty Institute of Plano, which is asking for an apology from the school and a more thorough investigation. Mrs. Perez added that the staffer involved should not work at a public school.

Mr. Perez, the vice president of sales at the Christian book publisher Charisma House, says he hopes the attention around the video would "make that person pause to infringe on another student's First Amendment rights."