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mstone
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Posted: Oct 4th, 2006 02:27 pm |
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Yep. It always amazes me that any elected official can run unopposed, but when you look at the condition of the school system, you'd think that there would be candidates climbing out of the wood work to run against the current crop of BOE members.
Nancy does a very good job. In fact, except for Anita Sharpe, she's probably the sharpest and most knowledgeable of all members.
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Starcatchr
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Posted: Oct 5th, 2006 10:24 am |
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There was an announcement on the news this morning that Stokesdale Elementary will no longer acknowledge holidays. They will celebrate autumn and other seasons instead.
I'm curious about how this decision was reached and why Stokesdale is the only GC school with the restriction. Celebrations of any one religion have been minimized for several years. Could diversity in beliefs be honored by including differences instead of putting an end to all celebrations? Does anyone know more about this and how it came about? Have parents complained? Has the A.C.L.U. stepped in? Have students been ostracized because of religion? Is this the pricipal's decision?
Somehow the joy of autumn doesn't compare in a child's mind with the joy of a halloween cupcake. I'm just wondering if there's a different take on this.
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Vicki White-Lawrence
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Posted: Oct 5th, 2006 11:22 am |
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I find it hard to believe that Stokesdale IS the only school with this policy. For years, of course, we've called the celebrations by generic names ("Fall," "holiday," "spring," etc). But some of the materials used still reflected Christian beliefs -- Christmas trees, angels, Easter eggs. As we have become a more diverse community, it was noted that some parents kept their children home when "fall" parties were held, with symbols such as witches, goblins, monsters that some feel celebrate evil or the devil. There are also some children whose parents send them to school but insist they leave the room during celebrations.
How would you feel if there was a celebration but you couldn't take part in it? What if your child was told the story of baby Jesus and how the red of the candy cane symbolised his blood and the white his purity, but your religion doesn't teach that?
We had some parents ask what the policy was, and how they could know what kinds of things such as this were being taught in the classroom, so they'd know how to address it with their children. We've also had parents come as individuals to our principal (and not only to our current one, I think) about this but in the past couple of years we've had parents ask it more.
It was brought to our School-Based Leadership Team, discussed in faculty meetings, and then this week a letter was sent home from our principal. It does NOT ban parties, it just says that classrooms should not be decorated around these themes. She asked that adults be sensitive to the needs of all children and honor their diversity. She included a copy of the GCS curriculum that addresses holidays as a way of showing how these could be incorporated into celebrations.
It's one thing to say we should be able to include ALL beliefs in our celebrations, but are we willing to do that? Isn't that just our way of trying to hang onto our traditions? We can carry on our traditions in our personal lives, we can invite folks to our homes for any kind of party we want to have. When our children go to school, they don't have a choice to attend or not. Some other religions don't have a major celebration in December, yet that is when we have our biggest. Are we really going to give others the focus that we give to Christianity?
As PTA President, I have fielded a few calls from parents. Our Board met Monday night and our principal shared with us the letter she would be sending. After a little discussion, we passed a motion in support of her letter, which was sent to try to clarify what the policy is. After people consider what it means, they don't seem to have such an issue with it. It's hard letting go of traditions sometimes, but we can continue those in our homes and our places of worship.
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dmauser
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Posted: Oct 5th, 2006 11:39 am |
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I have to agree with much of what Vicki said, but I was shocked that any teacher would be teaching about baby Jesus and the colors of a candy cane. That would be totally inapporpriate, since there is suppose to be separation of church and state. Religion is a personal choice and should be taught in the home not at church. It is sad that the kids can't have an egg hunt at Easter time without turning it into a religious thing.
Wonder what percentage of parents complained? I know at the middle school we try to be considerate of all major religious holidays. (not having meetings, extra projects etc) We do need to be more aware of all religions and learn from our differences, it is what our country was built on.
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Cracker Jax
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Posted: Oct 5th, 2006 12:52 pm |
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Starcatchr wrote: Somehow the joy of autumn doesn't compare in a child's mind with the joy of a halloween cupcake. I'm just wondering if there's a different take on this.
There won't be ANY halloween cupcakes at our school either Starcatcher.
In fact, there won't be any cupcakes at all.
Seems that someone in the higher eschelons of education thinks they need to give us parents another lesson in parenting and they've adopted this "wellness" policy.
We can't reward our kids with food anymore - Not for holidays and not for birthdays. No candy in prize boxes either.
We can't bake anything in our home kitchens for the kids anymore. Any food taken in...that means tofu and rice cakes, has to be prepared in an industrial kitchen... I forgot how they worded it, but basically a kitchen that the health department gives a sanitation grade to.
I know in the grand scheme of things a cupcake isn't a big deal but try and tell a Kindergartener that on their birthday.
I think this policy stinks.
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dmauser
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Posted: Oct 5th, 2006 01:07 pm |
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I think the policy states that they want healthy snacks, so there should be a balance of sweets and healthy foods... nothing with over 200 calories per serving. I know you are correct about purchasing from an accredited kitchen (safety issues) but it can put a hardship on parents. You can bake 24 cupackes for about $5, that many cost two or three times that at the grocery store. You are correct about candy for rewards. Sounds harsh to me, but obesity is taking over our childrens health (this from a woman that is wayyy overweight) We all know that many times the heavier child is not eating correctly, nor exercising enough and unfortunately they are the child that wants 3 cupcakes not just one.
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macca
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Posted: Oct 5th, 2006 01:30 pm |
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| So, Crackah! What do "celebrations" look like at S'field Elementary? Have y'all already been thru these discussions about decorating and all? Our principal seems to be more of the authoritarian style, so it's not like there's been lots of discussion. We got a letter and then I heard about the news (I don't usually watch Ch 12 -- and thought I was going flying last night!) story.... Is Stokesdale the ONLY school that doesn't allow "themed" parties? I know what I've read about the schools serving more nutritious foods and all, but I don't think I've seen anything saying we can't send in cupcakes. (I do know we haven't been able to send in homemade goods for a while.) So, is it up to individual schools as to how they choose to handle stuff? ♥♥♥
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A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. Herm Albright
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Starcatchr
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Posted: Oct 5th, 2006 03:01 pm |
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| Sorry, Vicki, I didn't mean to ruffle feathers this morning. I failed to think this through at the early morning hour. Diversity is great. Certainly it would be wrong to teach Christianity or any other religion in the schools. You are absolutely right about using symbols of religious holidays. I also understand that a parent here or there might think Halloween is evil and the Easter Bunny leads to ruin. What I am curious about is why is Stokesdale the only elementary school that has adopted this policy?(according to the morning news) Also, I'm wondering if there seems to be a more diverse student body at Stokesdale than at other schools in the county. Maybe someone else with a child in that school could answer.
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Cracker Jax
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Posted: Oct 5th, 2006 04:43 pm |
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dmauser wrote: I think the policy states that they want healthy snacks, so there should be a balance of sweets and healthy foods... nothing with over 200 calories per serving. I know you are correct about purchasing from an accredited kitchen (safety issues) but it can put a hardship on parents. You can bake 24 cupackes for about $5, that many cost two or three times that at the grocery store. You are correct about candy for rewards. Sounds harsh to me, but obesity is taking over our childrens health (this from a woman that is wayyy overweight) We all know that many times the heavier child is not eating correctly, nor exercising enough and unfortunately they are the child that wants 3 cupcakes not just one.
I know the reasoning behind implementing the program dmauser, but is it really the school system's job to tell me what I can and can not feed my child? I'd give them the prize box if they'd let me serve cupcakes on birthdays.
As for obese children, how about lightening the load on the teachers so that they don't have to assign as much homework (which will in turn, literally lighten the load on the kids) and the kids will have an opportunity to go out and play (exercise) before 10 pm?
My crystal ball's showin' a bunch of skinny adults running around with back problems. 
Seems to me that the school system is creeping more and more into my household and I don't like it one bit. For instance, before every one of these big tests (EOG's etc) I recieve a sheet of paper that reminds me to put my kid to bed early and to feed my kid breakfast.
Like I need to be reminded to feed my kid breakfast??? I know there are sorry parents who don't feed their kids. That's supposed to be why they have free/reduced meals and they started serving breakfast at school.
The paper used to print these "reminders" for the entire school system could buy kleenex or glue sticks for an entire school and lessen the load on supplies that parents have to buy throughout the year.
AND.... while I'm thinking of it, what about those 3 part forms that come home... the BEHAVIOR contract. The teacher signs, the kids sign and the parent signs...and everyone keeps their copy. How much do those things cost to print for the entire school system??? That's just about the dumbest thing I've ever heard.
You could probably buy a teacher's assistant for the price of those contracts.... well, almost. 
Sorry.... I sort of went off on a tangent.
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Cracker Jax
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Posted: Oct 5th, 2006 04:52 pm |
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macca wrote: So, Crackah! What do "celebrations" look like at S'field Elementary? Have y'all already been thru these discussions about decorating and all?
Macca, we've always called them "holiday parties" though I think terms like "Fall" parties and "Winter" parties were preferred. I don't know the official policy at the schools here but for the most part it's been up to the teacher and the students.
We had a class last year with a little fella who was a Jehovah's Witness and wasn't allowed to celebrate any birthdays or holidays. Most of the moms knew that, so if we had a birthday celebration, we'd bring him a regular snack and he seemed to be fine with it. I always felt sorry for him though. For Halloween we did the basic pumpkin w/ no face and the snowman for Christmas. That seemed to take care of it for all the students in that class anyway.
I'll let you know if another ruling comes down this year.
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dmauser
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Posted: Oct 5th, 2006 04:53 pm |
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| I understand your thought process, and of course you can feed your kids anything that you see fit to, and we are lucky to have a close community where we feel safe with allowing our kids to eat 'home made' items, but I know of several cases where, drugs, laxatives, pot etc have been put into homemade goodies and have been taken to schools (not here in GC, but here in USA) -- I think that is the true reason, so nothing can be 'tampered with'-- my suggestion, bring celery, carrots, apples and cupcakes (all from the store) then after party... throw away celery carrots apples and empy cupcake liners! It's not what we feed our kids, but what we feed the kids of other people
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RudeDog
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Posted: Oct 5th, 2006 11:10 pm |
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It seems to me that children already have plenty of opportunities outside of school to celebrate these holidays. It offends me that the people I know who seem most upset about this do not attend church regularly. If you want your children celebrating these religious holidays, take them to church. If you want your children to have a party with their friends, invite them to your home.
Personally, as poor a job as our government schools have demonstrated they do of teaching academic subjects (in general, not necessarily Stokesdale in particular), I'm surprised all these parents are trusting enough of government schools to teach religion, culture, traditions, and character. I'd rather not let the government anywhere near my religion.
Religion, culture, traditions, and character should be taught at home and/or at church, and our children's behavior at school should be a reflection of this teaching. Somehow we as a society have forgotten that, and now we rely on the schools to do it. It's a sad state of affairs that the closest many children get to celebrating these holidays is a watered-down "fun" day at school some time around the actual holiday. But we have no one to blame but ourselves.
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DToney
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Posted: Oct 6th, 2006 12:02 am |
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nowadays... schools not only try to tell us what we can FEED our kids but they also (as pointed out by crackah) "remind" us to put our kids to bed... like Crackah.. mine had a good nights sleep because they had a BEDTIME... and they had breakfast before leaving for school.... as part of our ROUTINE. Due to the bad parenting skills of some parents, schools must remind EVERYONE because of the stupidity of those with little or no parenting skills so the TEST SCORES don't suffer.
I hate standardized tests allbeit a necessary evil to measure progress of our schools... & although homework is necessary to some extent it does get out of control... sometimes it is a "catch all" for assignments not covered in class rather than the reinforcement tool that it should be. 3rd grade seems to be THE WORST for overbearing assignments.
Also, if our schools were funded as they should be, we would not have to purchase "supplies" for the entire classroom.... nor would the teachers be forced to purchased these supplies out of their own money!
If our schools were run like a good private business... with oversight to boot... we could eliminate waste (like these stupid "contracts") and be able to make better use of the limited funding we DO receive.
I'm sorry for my tangent too... but this is one of my soapbox issues... along with the fact that our kids have to attend school in mobile home parks......... which is a HOT topic for me... If we can fund parks, "history" museums & out of the office school board meetings, then we should have our children decent schools that are safe & not in moblie home villiages!!! With all of the $300 - million dollar homes in the NW territory... why can't we afford to do away with these facilities & make them any better?? That kinda cramps my craw!!!!!! especially when I read about funds being diverted for a Legal Issue somewhere... and we will probably NEVER see this money again.
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I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that don't work. - Thomas Edison
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dmauser
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Posted: Oct 6th, 2006 12:13 am |
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As someone said earlier, voting for change is great, but you have to voice your opinions to the school board, not just through this sorce. I don't know most of the posters here (maybe I do, but not with their sign in names). I would ask, with all due respect.. do you write letters of complaint to the school board and Dr Grier? Do you attend the BOE meetings and speak of your concerns? How will they know your opinion if you don't? We HAVE to make our opinions, thoughts, complaints and occasionally compliments known loud and clear!
The only real power we have is when many, many of us get up and get in their faces. One or two people can't make the changes we need. Darlene Garrett is very responsive to emails and I think she has a great feel for our community, however she is just one vote out of 11. The Board of Education takes an oath to do the right thing for all the children on the county, and we must let them know that our children are part of the "all" in that equation.
Okay... off my soap box, I have to watch the State/Fla State game and can't concentrate on both!
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Cracker Jax
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Posted: Oct 6th, 2006 01:18 am |
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Just noticed in the new NWO that Northern Middle will NOT be opening as scheduled. 
Surprise Surprise.
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