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.

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

“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.

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.

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

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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

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!

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