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Sep
4
In my nine years of patronizing the Orange City Schools district, I’ve had very, very few complaints related to religion in the schools. I wasn’t happy last year, and I wrote about it, regarding how a waiver day was moved to coincide with Easter, whereas, the week before, the Jewish residents had to pull their kids from school because of Passover starting the very day after Spring Break.
Luckily, this year, Spring Break and Easter coincide because Easter is so early. And Passover happens to be very late this year and starts on a weekend. So all is good in the world with the calendar.
And I’m never thrilled with all the party hoo-hah over St. Patrick’s Day and Valentine’s Day and all the decorations that go up. But in general, my attitude about them is, Whatever. They’re points of discussion, that’s it.
But this morning, I became aware of a flyer that my daughter brought home and it caused me to call the superintendent’s office.
I love my school district, but I know, because of my work with a parent networking group, that any paper that is to be distributed to the students must go through a very specific vetting procedure.
Additionally, because I’m an active member of a religious institution in town, I’ve been involved in conversations about whether or not to send an announcement about an event through the public schools. In my six or seven years at my synagogue, we’ve never done that.
What was it that came home?
A flyer for Garfield Memorial Church’s Back to School Jam.
What could be wrong with that?
Well, even the administrator in charge of vetting flyers etc. for distribution said, in his own words, that he was disappointed about the existence of the flyer in my daughter’s backpack. The reasons for his disappointement:
1. The item did not go through him as it should have, and
2. He is a member of Garfield and recounted to me how, when the flyer came to him last fall, 2006, it had to be modified in order to remove some content that the district felt was not appropriate.
I want to make it absolutely clear: Never before have I ever seen anything come home with any of my three kids, in three different grades, over the last nine years that was remotely questionable as far as having content that I would feel should disqualify that flyer or communication from being distributed by my public school.
That means to me that the district does an excellent job of vetting materials that do not belong in our kids’ backpacks, regardless of whether the issue is violence, obscenity, indecency, religion or any other material that public schools should not be asked to distribute and should not distribute.
What bothered me about this particular flyer was that it was for an event that was being hosted on the grounds of a church and that it described itself this way:
“back to school jam
sunday august 26 2:00-9:00pm
Come and celebrate outdoors with three exciting Christian bands”
How weird! I thought. Especially when everything after that phrase? Totally secular – 100% secular. See for yourself:
The name of one of the Christian bands, whose picture, the largest of the three promo photos, is in the middle of the oversized postcard flyer was The Divine Soldiers:
Admission to the event? Free – so long as you brought new school supplies. It doesn’t say that if you don’t bring the supplies, you pay. I don’t know about what would happen in that case.
So, ostensibly, this is a good thing to have happen – an event to help furnish school supplies to, according to the flyer, “low-income children and youth in the City of Cleveland.” No mention of whether it’s going to the muni schools, charter schools, parochial etc. And also, the Orange PTA runs such a program at least once at the end of the school year but also, during the school year, there’s a toiletries and supplies collection done by the PTA.
But still, sounds secular enough.
And so, although I was, literally, shocked when I saw the postcard, I didn’t want to do it – call and question it. Even the administrative assistant who helped me reach the right person at the school district had to tell me that it was okay to bring this to their attention.
Why would I be reluctant? Because this district does care and they do want to know and they have never tried to intimidate me out of asking questions and pushing to get answers. It’s one of the reasons I like this district so much – I’ve always found it to be responsive. And I press parents all the time to assert themselves as well, until they get answers.
But my initial reaction told me that I had to make the call. And, to be brutally honest, completely separate from any church/state issues? We parents get SO MUCH PAPER SENT HOME. Duplicates and triplicates sometimes. It is overwhelming and a huge waste. So there was the practical side of the situation as well:
There have to be, at a minimum, 15-20 religious institutions within the Orange school district boundaries. Can you imagine the flood of flyers that would come to them to vet if such material was allowed, just so they could review whether something was okay or not? And all the time that would have to be spent, essentially to be a free mail service?
No way.
In the end, the points I made to the administrator were:
Either someone had circumvented Orange’s system for vetting flyers in which case I wanted the district to figure out where the problem was and re-educate about the rules, or someone had decided that such material was okay to be distributed. In which case, I would have wanted to, in writing and in a public forum, such as through the school board, hear more about how this flyer is deemed permissible.
The administrator in charge of the process could not have been more amenable to speaking with me, explaining his position to me, listening to me and, I’m hopeful, following up.
P.S. the very very last thing I said?
I have a blog and will be writing about the incident, but don’t worry! NO ONE reads blogs.
What do you think – should anything come home via our kids’ backpacks, from the public schools? Where would you draw the line? What do you think about this particular flyer? What should a district’s policy be? What would you do?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 8:30 pm September 4th, 2007 in Politics
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6 Responses to “It’s a beautiful, busy, secular day in the neighborhood”
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SO MUCH PAPER SENT HOME
oh. yes. entirely too much. and I live in (somewhat) sticksville. I can’t imagine what it could be like in a metro area.
buy a stamp – save a whale. or a tree. or a kid’s back….
No one reads blogs. That’s funny.
I’m brand new to the public-school system, so I’m not sure what I would do. I’m dreading the fundraising crap that’s bound to start soon.
Arrgghhh! I have three kids in three schools — high school, middle school and elementary — and I’m buried in paper!!!!
Today’s flyer of note: An assembly with some guys with yo-yos (coming Monday) and for only $6.50 we can get our very own Ned yo-yo!!
Yuk!
For the record — I’d have done the same thing. I would have called.
This flyer should not be distributed by schools officials, that much is clear. What about letting kids pass them out to other kids? The ACLU would probably say that by granting permission to do this, the school system is crossing over into establishment territory. How about posting on bulletin boards in the school? Same thing.
Kids are so connected these days that I can’t imagine a poster or flyer making much difference in getting the word out. It the parents who need all the paper…
PL
Dear Jill,
Sorry the post card regarding the Back To School Jam disturbed you. I would be glad to talk to you about it any time. Just wanted to clarify a couple questions you raised about the event. All new school supplies go to Miles Elementary School (one of the lowest inceome schools in Cleveland). 75 students who could not otherwise afford supplies have been totally covered as well as teacher’s reserve supply being covered for the year. If folks do not bring supplies, they are still admitted free of charge. We had a significant attendance out of the 1200 present from low-income neighborhoods. The only charge at event is from the food vendors, and two game-booths that were set up for missions. The joint sponsored booth with the Cleveland Cavaliers raised all proceeds for NOTHING BUT NETS, a program that sends malaria netting to children in Africa for $10 each (all administrative costs have been underwritten by the Gates Foundation, so all gifts go directly to purchase and installation of said netting). 1000 nets were purchased for children in Africa at the event. No funds were raised in any way for our local organization.
Our institution and artists are obviously Christian, however, we had significant attendance from the Jewish community, as well as several Muslim families, which brings us great joy. Our organization does not proselytize, and our youth programs have experienced great excitement in connecting with other youth from area synagogues in mission projects such as Katrina Relief, etc.
I know this does not speak to your concern regarding an event hosted by a religious institution being advertised in the school. I simply thought it may be helpful to clear up some of the questions about the actual event that you raise in your blog.
Have a great day! Chip Freed (Lead Pastor, GMUMC)
Dear Pastor Freed,
Thank you so much for venturing to the blog and responding.
Although my reaction and surprise was instantaneous, because church/state issues arise frequently in the places and with the people I debate, it really was a brow-crinkling experience, more than one of feeling indignant or even offended. I believe I told the district administrator that as well – I wasn’t so much offended as really surprised, since I’ve never seen anything come home that has a flavor of religion in it.
I know not everyone agrees with me. I know there is an enormous grey area here. For example, Borders bookstores has a Hebrew Language hour. How would parents feel if they had their flyers come through the schools? What about Solomon Schecter’s Rib-burnoff? And of course, the Cleveland Orchestra’s holiday concerts, which cover all the holidays, but often include one that is dedicated to the Christmas-oriented music.
There are big and small secular elements in each of these. But, as you can see from the comments, as parents – for some of us, it is simply a Paper issue!! How pragmatic is that!? We get so overwhelmed with flyers.
And there is the situation of the district having to wade through and become arbiters of every scrap. Do we really want them using their resources that way?
I appreciate your clarifications and I am thrilled for the success of the event. I live just around the corner and daily passed the sign that the church had up for a while and then saw the blow-up attractions that day. I’m glad the weather was so nice too. I imagine the Schecter rib-burnoff that day did well also (I’ve actually never been).
I’m a huge believer and supporter of interfaith activities. And you probably know that many of the shuls in town, mine included, do school supply gathering too. Perhaps there is something more than can be done to combine these interests in the future.
I gather that you understand my basic point and I felt that the district understood too. Again, I was a little embarrassed to even bring it up, but I am so heartened by the response to the fact that I did.
Your response included. Thank you very much and perhaps we will have an occasion to meet.
You have a lovely day too, and thank you.