The Court cited New York's recent decision in the case "Engles v. Vitale" where the state had allowed officials of a school district to order its teachers to teach and lead students in a nondenominational prayer crafted by the government to remain in place as long as more safeguards were put into place to insure that students and parents were informed that children could remove themselves from the classroom if they did not wish to participate or be exposed to the prayer crafted by the New York board of Regents (this decision was later reversed by the United States Supreme court in 1963). The New York Court held that due to the 1943 case "West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette" there was general knowledge that there could be no compulsion on students to participate or expose themselves to the Pledge.