ACLU seeks probe, school's test prayer.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
ACLU seeks probe, school's test prayer.
4
Fri, 03-19-2004 - 1:07pm

Doesn't everyone silently pray before taking a test?    Cheater 


Why does a principal think it's her place to continue to distribute prayers sheets to teachers & students after she's been told to stop? 


No wonder the school's failing if the princical's spelling & grammer aren't up to par.


ACLU seeks probe into school's test prayer.


http://www.cnn.com/2004/EDUCATION/03/19/school.prayer.ap/index.html


A middle school principal has been told it was inappropriate to have teachers give students a prayer asking God to help vanquish their "enemies" -- the standardized tests they were about to take.


School officials will decide whether to reprimand Principal Paulette Walker after investigating her distribution of the prayer this year and another prayer notice to teachers last year, Assistant Superintendent Matt George said Thursday.


Because of the prayers, the American Civil Liberties Union called Thursday for an investigation of religion in district schools.


George said he met with Walker before hearing about the ACLU's statement. "The minute it was reported to us, we told her to stop," said George.


He supervises the district which includes Samuel J. Green Middle School, where the prayer was given out Monday with test booklets for two standardized tests.


Green is one of dozens of failing schools which could be taken over by the state unless scores improve significantly on two tests being taken this week. Fourth- and eighth-graders take the LEAP test, which can keep them from being promoted, and students in other grades take the nationally standardized Iowa Test.


The prayer, which had errors in grammar and punctuation, states: "I receive your help faith, knowing that through you I shall do valiantly, for you are the one who treads down my enemies.(LEAP, Iowa)".


Asked whether it was appropriate to describe tests as students' enemies, George said, "We've told her not to pass this out. ... We didn't get into the specifics of what's inside. That's what the investigation is for."


In a letter Thursday, Joe Cook, executive director of ACLU of Louisiana, asked Superintendent Anthony Amato to investigate and stop school-sponsored religious exercises throughout the district, as well as at Green.


Cook said the only evidence he had of such activity this year or last was the purple half-sheet of paper bearing the prayer, as well as a prayer announcement sent last year to teachers at Green.


However, he said, he thinks there have been more.


The "special announcement" distributed to teachers last year said in part, "We will not be taken over by the state but by faith. ... We will need a miracle. And after all isn't that what he specializes in?"


Like the prayer, it had errors of punctuation and grammar. It asked "prayer warriors" to "pray for each other, each others family, and for our school." It also stated, "Education in New Orleans, is in trouble."

cl-Libraone~

 


Photobucket&nbs

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Sat, 03-20-2004 - 10:41am

Perhaps she should look into teaching at a church-affiliated private school??


iVillage Member
Registered: 05-08-2003
Sat, 03-20-2004 - 7:37pm
As a parent I would be all over that principal. I wouldn't want the school to tell my child how or when to pray.

In a similar situation at my children's high school, two of my children, in two separate classes, had to sit through a fundamentalist preacher's lecture on the evils of Satanism. When they came home and told me all they had learned about Satanism, I got so mad I almost peed my pants. One of the things they told me that they learned that day was that a five pointed star was a Satanic symbol. I was livid. The American flag boasts 50 five pointed stars. Did that mean we are a nation of Satan worshippers? If you do this or that it meant you were worshipping the devil. If the speaker knew I got down on my knees every day in front of the toilet would he think it was to worship it? (I had a houseful of boys which meant I had to clean the bathroom every day.)

The next day I was right in the principal's office wanting to know why they were teaching my children about Satanism. He seemed surprised and said that I was the only person who had said anything about it. Apparently the teacher was a fundamentalist who had attended a rivival where the preacher talked about Satanism. The teacher had to get permission from the principal to have that speaker bring his "show" to his classes. Without really understanding who the speaker was or the topic,or so he said, the principal apparently granted permission late afternoon the previous day. When I asked why my children had to sit throught a religious lecture on Satanism and learn about things I did not want them to know, I was told that the children were offered the option of turning their backs so as not to see the accompanying film. I was almost jumping up and down at that. That is NOT a choice. That same afternoon I called the only lawyer I knew at the time who worked for the State Attorney General and asked for advice. He told me to call the ACLU which I did.

After a few discussions it was decided that the principal would retire a year earler than he had planned and that was pretty much the end of it. I wasn't too happy that the teacher somehow held onto his job. After that, the high school was made more aware of the inadvisability of religious teaching in the high school and my other children made it through without any more unapproved religious instruction. Either that or they just never told me because I did rather embarrass the first two, but only for a short time. Mon had made a scene and that was so unusual they were shocked.

I found out that day that all it only takes one person to speak up about an injustice and make others aware of it. I have to admit that I was surprised that I was the only one out of hundreds of parents who spoke out. Where were they? Weren't they paying attention? Didn't they ever listen to what their children were saying?

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Sun, 03-21-2004 - 8:47am

Good for you!


Children are so impressionable & tend to believe what adults tell them. Some of the fundies are really 'out there'.

 


Photobucket&nbs

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-08-2003
Sun, 03-21-2004 - 10:10am
I can't recall ever being so angry in my entire life. Personal experiences before anything else help people to form their opinions. This one caused me to fall off the fence on the side of separtion of church and state. It made me realize that if a majority religious group dictated what was taught in school then someday my children/grandchildren could be indoctrinated into a religion I can't approve of just because that particular religion was in the majority at the time.

The experience also brought back to me something that the children's middle school principal said, realizing that from middle school onward children would begin to draw away from their parents as they try to establish their own individuality and work to become independent of their parents. He told me to NEVER LET A STRANGER TEACH YOUR CHILD. I had gotten away from that principal's principle (LOL)as they had gotten older and pushed me away. From that incident on, I made sure that I met their teachers as soon as possible after school started. It was a way to let them know that I'm here, I'm paying attention and I care.