You Can't Keep Religion Out Of The School... Not When It's Sponsored

We recently were forwarded an email from a colleague who felt uncomfortable by this email sent school-wide.

         For those of you all interested, FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) will study Philippians 2:3 and Proverbs 15:33. The lesson surrounds HUMILITY. We will start about 7:15 tomorrow morning in the teacher's lounge. Come join us if you want a good word. Start your day off right with a blessing. . .

And while we believe the FCA is a fine organization, after reading the email, we too questioned the propriety of this situation. Certainly, religious clubs and groups have access to public school buildings, but should those meetings be held in the teacher's lounge? On one hand is the general feeling held by most teachers; No Kids In The Teacher's Lounge. On the other hand is the idea that religious discussion and prayer are being held in what is usually considered a neutral zone 15 minutes before school begins. It's also doubtful whether other organizations would receive the same accommodations. Try getting the teacher's lounge for the "Student Wiccan Association."

 Should this organization be offered the opportunity to function at school 15 minutes before the school day begins? Absolutely, yes. Should the location be the teacher's lounge? No. But here's a simple solution; if you're going to have such a meeting, have it in the sponsor's classroom before school. 

And you thought the only praying in school was during tests.

It's Spring Break; SCHOOL IS NOW OVER FOR THE YEAR

It should come as no surprise that when one has a week long spring break just six weeks before a ten week summer break, the six weeks in between those periods can be a mess. We are now on a countdown until the end of school. Unfortunately, this will be reflected in class studies, student behavior, administrative  procedures; everything will chaotically wind down.

It's reflected in the attitudes of students who now have enough credits to pass to the next grade, and knowing this, refuse to do anymore work. Try to imagine that. Try to imagine having absolutely no concern over your grade point average, so long as you can get to the next grade. "D-, no problem! I passed didn't I?"

The wind down is reflected in the scurrying of students who didn't do a lick of work in the first two thirds of the year, but who are now doing "recovery modules" in their failing subjects. Modules are essentially workbooks that cover basic or remedial material (as compared to actual classwork) and allow failing students to "recover" (the actual program is referred to as "Recovery.") six weeks of work in as little as three or four out-of-regular-class sessions.

It's reflected in the attitude of the Assistant Principal who we overheard tell a misbehaving student, "Look, do your work now and after spring break you won't have to worry about it. We have testing and that's pretty much it... it's pretty much over after spring break." Needless to say, we wondered what would have happened if the A.P. had overheard us saying those same words to a student.

Teachers will hear quite a bit about keeping up the classroom activities, etc. But we're going to see a lot more classes running around outside. Packing up of classrooms will begin (Every classroom must be completely stripped to the walls and packed up, regardless of if that teacher will be in the same room next year.). Misbehaving students will finally begin disappearing as the administration has their testing scores and hence won't put up with the misbehavior any longer. Movies in classrooms will make the average school look like Stonybrook or Tinseltown Theaters. There will be lockers to be cleaned out (Note: Want to know what your child's personal educational organization is like? Look inside their locker unannounced sometime.) And finally, graduations for upperclassmen, dances, and the inevitable end of year student (and faculty) parties. Things will be busy. But busy about what?

And you thought there was going to be another six weeks of instruction.