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elfsVia Ed Brayton comes this charming little story out of Virginia. It seems that the school system there has an open forum policy on teacher-parent communication folders (we get these from Yamaraashi-chan's class every week; Kouryou-chan's school just uses email), which basically says that any parent who has a child in the school may put non-commercial public notes into the communications folder. This has mostly been exploited by the local churches to advertise upcoming church events.
Last week, however, a local pagan group wanted their own flier put into the backpacks. The uproar was predictable, and loud. One parent wrote to the school board: "They [the school officials] aren't endorsing or sponsoring this? Then it shouldn't have been included in the Friday folders. The Friday folders have never been used for any thing other than school work and school board and/or County sanctioned/sponsored programs... A 'pagan ritual' is an educational experience my children don't need." A local minister said that this was clearly "another sign that Christians ought to leave the public schools."
Here's the punchline: the policy was put in place by Jerry Falwell's legal group. It seems that a church wanted to advertise their "vacation bible school" in the communications folders, and the school board was refusing to let them until Falwell's Liberty Counsel stepped in and threatened a lawsuit.
Second punchline: this happened only two months ago, and was a big deal at the time.
How amazingly short the memories, and narrow the minds.
Last week, however, a local pagan group wanted their own flier put into the backpacks. The uproar was predictable, and loud. One parent wrote to the school board: "They [the school officials] aren't endorsing or sponsoring this? Then it shouldn't have been included in the Friday folders. The Friday folders have never been used for any thing other than school work and school board and/or County sanctioned/sponsored programs... A 'pagan ritual' is an educational experience my children don't need." A local minister said that this was clearly "another sign that Christians ought to leave the public schools."
Here's the punchline: the policy was put in place by Jerry Falwell's legal group. It seems that a church wanted to advertise their "vacation bible school" in the communications folders, and the school board was refusing to let them until Falwell's Liberty Counsel stepped in and threatened a lawsuit.
Second punchline: this happened only two months ago, and was a big deal at the time.
How amazingly short the memories, and narrow the minds.
