06:09 PM EDT on Thursday, May 18, 2006

Arshiya Saiyed is one of those girls that seems to get everything done in a day: school, volunteering, extra curriculars.

“I was planning graduation with the senior committee when this comes," she says.

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“This” started as something she heard in that committee -- a religious graduation prayer.

“Terms like Jesus Christ, heavenly father, I talked about the fact I was Muslim and the prayers in the past were offensive to me," she says.

Arshiya and other students were also concerned it wasn't constitutional.

But almost the minute she questioned the religious prayer, Arshiya started getting harassed by a group of students, some in individual meetings, and one student who told her he wanted her out of the country.

STEPHEN RICHARD / WHAS11 News

Arshiya Sayied

Arshiya said a teacher criticized her.

"The class committee sponsor was hostile to the group and made it known our opinion didn't matter, it wasn't up to us, it was up to the principal.”

But Principal Gary Kidwell says it's not his choice: “There's nothing that's come across my desk that finalized a prayer or anything like that.”

Kidwell says a prayer of some sort has been at graduation for years. He says they're working on the right plan for this year, but doesn't want anyone harassed. “I'm aware of one isolated incident there was inappropriate conduct I was aware of, and we dealt with those."

But while the American Civil Liberties Union can't comment specifically on the case, it says schools have to be careful with graduation speeches.

“The closer it looks like school sponsored. the more likely it's found to be school sponsored,” says the ACLU’s Lili Lutgens.

Arshiya says she's all for a moment of silence, but not a religious prayer: “We should be able to do that on our own and not at a state-sponsored public school.”

Principal Kidwell's decision on what will happen at graduation will come around Monday. He says he will not tolerate further harassment against Arshiya. Arshiya says she'll be at her graduation prayer or not.

Principal Gary Kidwell says it's talking to students and a number of groups to make sure whatever it does at graduation is appropriate and legal.

The ACLU says schools are OK if they organize private, voluntary ceremonies outside of graduation for religious speeches.

Shelby County graduation is two weeks from Friday.

Web story produced by Jay Ditzer.