Meryl's Notes Blog

10 comments

• Posted by: Meryl on December 14th, 2005, 12:42 PM

  Washington Post Cartoon

  Cartoon Link from Tom
  And a totally PC greeting from “And then he said“

• Posted by: joan on December 14th, 2005, 4:12 PM

  My daughter teaches at a Plano elementary school. The fact is, students are not permitted to draw Christmas trees or pictures of Santa Claus. Snowmen are OK. Red and green napkins and plates are NOT permitted at holiday parties because those colors signify Christmas, thus turning a holiday party into a Christmas party. If you saw students with Santa hats, I’m sure the teacher involved has heard about it–OH MY!!!

  Don’t you think it a bit strange that we cannot display our faith as Christians or Jews–but anything to do with the Muslim religion is permitted–even prayer time IN SCHOOL!!!!! (See Richardson ISD, for example). Additionally, I believe it was PISD that arranged HS field trips to mosques!!!! (DOES SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE NOT APPLY TO MUSLIMS??)
  So, the Muslims come to our country, attend college for FREE, stay here, make lots of $$$$ while they remain in their ’sleeper cells’-just waiting for their turn to attack us. The attack on the WTC in 2001 caused us suddenly to allow Muslims free reign in our schools while we silence our own beliefs.
  THERE’S SOMETHING WITH THAT PICTURE!

• Posted by: Meryl on December 14th, 2005, 4:34 PM

  I emailed Joan and got a bad address bounce. So I can’t verify this comment.

• Posted by: Mike on December 14th, 2005, 10:50 PM

  What O’Reilly said very well is true. I don’t like the guy one but here is proof from December of 2004.

  Plano school district bans Christmas colors
  District forbids red and green; only white allowed at “winter break” parties
  Wednesday, December 15, 2004, 5:08 PM (MST)
  ADF Media Relations | 480-444-0020

  Comments

  Related Links

  It’s okay to say Merry Christmas

  ADF: More than 700 attorneys nationwide ready to combat attempts to censor Christmas
  PLANO, Texas—Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund and Liberty Legal Institute filed a federal civil rights lawsuit today against the Plano Independent School District for a discriminatory policy that censors the Christmas religious expression of students and their parents.

  “The policy is a perfect example of politically correct extremism,” said ADF Senior Counsel Gary McCaleb. “School officials have gone so far as to prohibit students from wearing red and green at their ‘winter break’ parties because they claim they are Christmas colors. Even the plates and napkins must be white. The district’s policy is ludicrous to even the most common observer.”

  In addition to banning Christmas colors, school officials have prohibited students from exchanging candy canes and pencils with religious messages on them, using reindeer symbols, or writing “Merry Christmas” on greeting cards to U.S. soldiers because the phrase might “offend someone.” The district has even applied its policy to parents involved in school activities, barring them from exchanging “religious” Christmas items with other parents.

  “The district’s policy is what is offensive. It is offensive to the 96 percent of Americans who celebrate Christmas,” McCaleb said. “If the district truly wants to avoid offending someone, then they will change their incredibly restrictive and unconstitutional policy.”

  The lawsuit, Jonathan Morgan, et al., v. the Plano Independent School District, et al., was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Sherman Division.

  “The U.S. Supreme Court has never ruled that public schools must prohibit the distribution of candy canes or Christmas cards. They have never ruled that you can’t say ‘Merry Christmas’ in the public schools,” McCaleb explained. “These attempts to stifle all religious expression and sanitize Christmas of all religious content are tiring to the overwhelming majority of Texans and all Americans.”

  As part of its second annual Christmas Project, ADF so far has contacted over 5,000 school districts across the nation explaining the law with regard to the celebration of Christmas in the public schools.

  ADF is America’s largest legal alliance defending religious liberty through strategy, training, funding, and litigation.

  http://www.telladf.org

  http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/news/story.aspx?cid=3260

• Posted by: Meryl on December 15th, 2005, 7:15 AM

  Thanks for the pointer, Mike. I am investigating this. If this is true, then I retract my statement — however, as you pointed out in a separate message — this is from 2004 and O’Reilly may be talking about a past incident not from this year.

  Furthermore, it’s very possible that PISD didn’t mandate it but rather one school, one principal. If this is the case, then the entire PISD can’t be blamed for one principal’s poor decision.

  More to come.

• Posted by: Meryl on December 15th, 2005, 9:12 AM

  I contacted Dr. Doug Otto, the superintendent of Plano ISD. He gave me permission to print his email reply here.

  “The lawsuit stems from an incident that occurred two years ago. Yes, a third grader was stopped from handing out candy canes with a religious
  message in the classroom. He was asked to do this in the library when it wouldn’t disrupt the class time. The parents sued arguing infringement on first amendment rights. We have since worked with the First Amendment Center in Virginia to adopt a more accommodating policy. Students may now hand out anything before and after school, during recess, and at other times when class is not being conducted.

  “The Liberty Legal Center which is representing the parents want the district to also allow students the right to hand out out messages, candy, etc. even during times when the teacher is teaching. We will not relent on that. So, in other words, we have tried to settle this lawsuit by adopting a much more accommodating policy regarding distribution by students. In fact, the new policy was modeled after one promulgated by the First Amendment Center. All the other accusations regarding colors, parties, etc, are not true.”

  Meryl here. Do you want kids handing out their birthday treats in the middle of a lesson? There’s a reason that time is set aside for such events and that applies for all special days and events. If we don’t draw a line, then kids will be talking and not listening to the teacher during lesson time.

• Posted by: C J on December 15th, 2005, 1:11 PM

  I teach 5th grade for Plano ISD. Colors are not banned. Kids wear what they want as long as it is not profane or drug/alcohol related. We have a Jewish art teacher; our students are doing holiday cards. They draw plenty of Christmas trees. Hanukkah, Christmas, name your poison… it’s allowed. I have a girl in my classroom wearing a Santa Hat right now. She sits between a Muslim student and Jewish student. Kids are tolerant and accepting. It is the parents/adults that are ruining this time of year in classrooms, and making issues that are not present in our halls. People in search of their 5 minutes I guess. It makes me wonder what values they truly believe in this time of year. It should be a time of selflessness. At least that is what my mother taught me. Of course if you believe that Bill O’ and Fox News is “No Spin” than I am wasting my time with this post anyway. HAPPY HOLIDAYS.

• Posted by: Susan on December 19th, 2005, 12:44 PM

  I teach 6th grade in East Plano and while there are “official” policies in place, the fact is that each campus is different. It really depends on what each school’s administration will put up with. Some teachers will also try to get by with whatever they can.

  There should be no celebrating allowed in school. School is not supposed to be fun.

• Posted by: meryl on December 19th, 2005, 12:57 PM

  Susan,

  Amen! I was shocked when I learned that they have kid birthday celebrations once a month at my daughter’s middle school. I figured that stuff would end after elementary school.

• Posted by: meryl on December 21st, 2005, 7:30 AM

  Latest update from Dallas Morning News: O’Reilly Admits Mistake [may require registration]

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