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Published on 10/23/1995 All articles from this issue

District just trying to be sensitive regarding religious celebrations

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By Jay A. Thomas

It seems the board has accomplished, with the Halloween directions we gave our superintendent, the essence of what we have been struggling to accomplish in a policy - sensitivity. Sensitivity to how others view and feel about "holidays" such as Halloween. Unfortunately, as in every draft of a policy, the words have been interpreted in ways we never anticipated.

To start with, let me clarify my position on Halloween.

I support "Halloween celebrations" be held outside of normal school hours. This was the direction the board stated. Teaching is the priority for this district and there is much to be taught. Many parents have asked if the school day could be extended in order to provide more academic time. Taking time from the classroom to have a Halloween party is not the best use of educational time and is an inconsistent practice between our schools. School time away from the classroom should have an instructional focus, be related to school activities the children are in involved in such as concerts, plays, or provide educational value such as field trip, guest presentations, etc. Regarding some peoples' statements we are eliminating all references to Halloween in the schools, I submit our words are being misinterpreted.

I subscribe to the belief school assignments should focus on the topic to be leamed and provide the students room for freedom of expression. To that end, teaching about poetry by reading a poem about a black cat at Halloween is acceptable, but assigning students to write a poem about a black cat at Halloween is not. The assignment should be to write a poem and the subject of the poem should be left to the creativity of the child.

Classroom decorations help to set the learning environment. A classroom devoid of references to what is happening in the children's lives outside school is not realistic. Halloween is, for most children and families, an innocent time of fantasy. Bringing some of that into the classroom via some Halloween decorations is natural. I trust our educators will be sensitive to students' beliefs and to balance Halloween decorations with other decorations to create an environment conducive to leaming.

I feel our ambition to create the perfect policy on education and religion exceeds our capacity. We have taken on a topic the Supreme Court has grappled with for years without final resolution. While the topic is intellectually seductive, it is not where the board should keep its focus. We need to stop trying to delineate all of the bounds on religion and the classroom and, instead, state the positives - we want our curriculum to include objective teaching about religions.

The board needs to return to issues such as maintaining and enhancing the strong education this district provides to the children, keeping the district solvent in the continuing weak financial support from the state, addressing the continued growth in our schools that is creating overcrowding and determining how to improve the facilities.

We have always taken pride in listening to parents and constituents. We listened last January and embarked on this present joumey. Through our discussions on this topic we have actually achieved much of the sensitivity to the religion and education we sought to incorporate in a policy.

We need to listen again to our parents and constituents. It is time to close our discussions on religion and the classroom and move on.