Don’t miss the point of the dispute. The purpose of the Bible Reading was indoctrination. Suppose that New York had required a short service at the start using the Book of Common Prayer. Think the Baptists would have like that? In Italy, in Germany, and in France there was an assault on the Catholic Church. The Irish Catholics, whose faith had been long suppressed, were now in America and were free to oppose this. So they did.
Really? Did the principal give a sermon? How does reciting the Lord's Prayer indoctrinate Catholics? Your supposing assumes a service, the article doesn't speak of one. The assumption of the priest was that there was an indoctrination purpose. The result, in short, .org over God.