ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, December 16, 1996 TAG: 9612160006
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
MEMO: ***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on December 17, 1996.
Clarification
The menorah on the bulletin board at Morningside Elementary School,
shown is a photograph in Monday's paper, has seven branches. The menorah
that is used only for Hanukkah has nine branches.
SOME PARENTS want all references to religious holidays removed from classrooms, while others believe the Christian elements of the season need to be taught.
Schoolchildren have shopped for toys and gifts for their parents and friends in Santa's "secret shop" in the music room at Hurt Park Elementary this year.
Principal Gary Galbreath said the shop helped teach the children about "sharing, giving and thinking of others at this time of the year." It was also a fund-raising project by the Parent-Teacher Association at the Roanoke school, which received a share of the profits.
A Hurt Park bulletin board display about December holidays features Hanukkah and Kwanzaa as well as Christmas.
At Morningside Elementary, the doors, windows and halls are decorated with Christmas wreaths, ribbons and posters. Bulletin boards are decorated with paper stockings and Christmas trees that were made by children. There is a Christmas tree in the school cafeteria.
There also are displays that include Jewish symbols such as menorahs, the candelabra that are used during Hanukkah.
"We call it the winter holiday, not the Christmas holiday, and focus on traditional scenes with snow, stockings, families and things like that," said Virginia Stuart, Morningside principal. "I like for the bulletin boards to display children's work such as the stockings.''
There have been similar displays and holiday programs in many public schools this month, which annually brings the "December dilemma" to school officials in the Roanoke Valley: What type of holiday activities and decorations should they allow?
A Christian holiday, Christmas features secular and religious activities and symbols that generate strong emotions and debate about whether they are appropriate and legal in schools.
Other religious holidays also are celebrated in December, including Hanukkah, a Jewish holiday, and Kwanzaa, an African-American celebration.
Because of controversy and litigation, some school systems in other parts of the country have banned Santa, Christmas trees and other traditional activities, as well as religious symbols and sacred music that are associated with the holiday.
The St. Cloud, Minn., school district, for example, does not allow trees as classroom decorations. Trees can be displayed only if they are part of the curriculum and academic study.
The debate over religious holidays in schools is often a battle between those who would impose their religious faith on others and those who would remove all references to God and religion in schools.
In the Roanoke Valley, school officials said they permit secular activities and decorations as part of the educational program, but avoid celebrating Christmas as a religious holiday.
Nativity scenes, pictures and references to Christ and other Christian symbols are excluded from holiday decorations and programs in the schools.
Most schools avoid using the word Christmas in their decorations or musical programs; they call them "winter" or "holiday" events.
Roanoke schools try to take an educational approach to Christmas and other religious holidays - not to avoid the issue, Superintendent Wayne Harris said.
"Our goal is to teach children about why these holidays are celebrated. We want children to know about their cultures," he said. "There's no prohibition against teaching about religion."
But he said city schools avoid focusing on a specific religious holiday such as Christmas and recognize others such as Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. "We talk about a winter holiday - not a particular holiday."
Roanoke County schools approach Christmas and religious holidays from a "historical and cultural viewpoint," said Marty Robison, assistant superintendent. "We refer to it as a holiday season, and we focus on various religious holidays."
Often it's a no-win situation for schools.
Some parents on both sides of the issue remain unhappy. Some complain that God and Christmas are being banished from schools, but others want to keep all holiday activities and decorations out of schools.
Vanessa Holmes, president of the Lincoln Terrace Elementary PTA, is among the latter.
Holmes is a Baptist whose family celebrates Christmas, but she believes religious holiday activities and traditions have no place in public schools.
"I think we should stick to academics and take holidays out of schools," she said. "The activities and decorations are offensive to people who don't celebrate Christmas."
A multicultural approach would offend fewer children, but there are still some who don't have any religious beliefs and shouldn't have to be exposed to holiday decorations and activities in schools, Holmes said.
Schools don't fool anyone by calling it a "winter" or "holiday" season and trying to avoid the word Christmas, she said.
Other parents complain that schools and teachers tend to focus on Christmas to the exclusion of holidays that are celebrated by other religions.
"Some teachers just talk about Christmas and Santa with nothing about lights or menorahs," said Maria Faletta, a Lincoln Terrace PTA leader and mother. "There's nothing about the holidays of other cultures, and at Easter, it's just about eggs."
Abby Fifer, a junior at Patrick Henry High, believes public schools should eliminate all holiday activities and decorations "because it's impossible to accommodate all religions."
Moreover, she said, religious holidays are "watered down so much in schools" that they no longer have a religious significance.
Fifer, who is Jewish, said some schools are insensitive to Hanukkah and other non-Christian holidays. She said her brother, a member of a middle school band, had to miss one night of the Hanukkah celebration to take part in his band's winter program - which included three Christian songs but no Hanukkah music.
"That was ridiculous, but no one showed any concern for him or that he had to miss one night of Hanukkah," she said.
Others complain that too much of the religious significance of the holidays is excluded.
Donna Dean, a Roanoke County mother, said the birth of Christ, Nativity scenes and traditional Christmas hymns are "just as much a part of Christmas" as Santa Claus and traditional decorations.
"I don't see anything wrong with Nativity scenes. You can't get around it. That's what Christmas is about," Dean said.
"Schools can't have it both ways - saying they're allowing Christmas, but excluding some things," she said. "You'd be better off ignoring it if you're going to take out part of it and have a void."
Last year, the Central PTA Council in Roanoke complained that the religious aspects of different cultures were "inequitably represented to our children or not presented at all to the detriment of their education regarding various cultures."
The council said some teachers at one elementary school were asked to decorate their classroom doors for the holiday season depicting the cultures and customs of different countries, but were instructed not to use materials of a religious nature.
"We discourage the exclusion of religious information in our schools and believe that it must be included to accurately reflect the history and culture of all people," the PTA group said in a letter to the School Board.
Nelson Harris, who was chairman of the board then and is a City Council member now, said he found the PTA's group request "reasonable and refreshing."
While schools cannot promote religion, Harris said, "we should not be pushed to the extreme of pretending religion is nonexistent and has not played a role in the historical and cultural development of America."
Superintendent Wayne Harris told the PTA council recently that schools can teach students objectively about religious holidays and traditions as part of their educational program.
"There is no prohibition against teaching about religion. We have tried to emphasize to schools to teach about religions - not to celebrate any particular one," he said.
The state Board of Education's guidelines say schools may recognize holidays having religious significance to some people, such as Christmas and Easter, because they have become part of the national culture and heritage.
But the guidelines say the "religious significance should not be promoted or sponsored" by schools.
The United States Supreme Court has let stand a lower federal court decision that schools may recognize religious holidays "if the purpose is to provide secular instruction about religious traditions rather than to promote the particular religion involved."
Federal guidelines for religious expression in schools say schools may celebrate the secular aspects of holidays, but may not observe them as religious events or promote such observance by students.
The state's guidelines advise schools to seek "fair balance and sensitivity to all students" in holiday activities and musical programs. They suggest that school concerts that present a variety of selections may include religious music.
Federal courts have ruled that holiday concerts are constitutional where seasonal songs such as "Jingle Bells" are performed along with Christmas carols.
But Bunnie Riedel, director of chapters and faith groups for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said schools should be cautious about seasonal music because ``we're such a Christian-centered country that some think you're celebrating Christmas if you sing `Jingle Bells.'''
A "balanced and fair concert" doesn't necessarily mean 50 percent Christian or religious music and 50 percent secular songs, she said.
Federal courts have ruled that it is acceptable to display a menorah next to a Christmas tree, but not to display only a creche, or stable scene with figures representing the birth of Christ.
Virginia Heights Elementary in Roanoke has tried to avoid controversy by having a winter musical program that includes holiday songs from many countries and cultures.
School officials have to use "good judgment" in deciding what is appropriate during the holiday season, Riedel said.
"There has to be a middle ground between those who try to eliminate all references to religion and others who are proselytizing," she said.
LENGTH: Long : 191 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: CINDY PINKSTON/Staff. 1. Morningside Elementaryby CNBthird-graders Stephen Poindexter, Christan Akers, Jessica Cyrus and
Johnathon Crowe practice singing for their school's upcoming winter
holiday program sing-along. 2. Mrs. Avery's class traced their feet
for the shape of Rudolph's head and their hands for the antlers to
decorate this bulletin board. color. 3. CINDY PINKSTON/Staff
Cultural diversity is shown on this Morningside Elementary School
bulletin board, with the menorah and Christmas tree displayed
together.