Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

School Considered Canceling Nutcracker Trip To Protect Kids from Christmas Tree Exposure
reason ^ | Nov. 23, 2014 | Lenore Skenazy

Posted on 11/24/2014 11:15:22 AM PST by dennisw

It's a Christmas miracle! An elementary school in a Boston suburb that was going to cancel its annual trip to see The Nutcracker has decided allowing kids to see a Christmas tree on stage will not destroy the non-Christians in the audience. According to whdh.com:

The trip to see the famous ballet has been a tradition at the school for years, but apparently some felt the trip was improper because there is a Christmas tree on the stage.

The issue came to a head at a [Butler Elementary School] PTA meeting Tuesday night. A source said some people were told they were being discriminatory if they supported their kids going to "The Nutcracker."

The controversy was so white-hot, the PTA apparently worked in secret to cancel the field trip:

Some parents of the second graders, who didn't want to appear on camera, told 7News that they're also upset because PTA leaders secretly cancelled the field trip without telling anyone, but word spread.

PTA Co-President Barbara Bulfoni said, "In the past years there were parents complaints as 'The Nutcracker' has a religious content.

You know what? The Nutcracker does indeed have religious content. Everyone in the ballet is celebrating Christmas, a Christian holiday commemorating Christ. Same thing happens in A Christmas Carol, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, A Christmas Story, A Charlie Brown Christmas, White Christmas, Black Christmas (a slasher movie) and—heck—Handel's Messiah.

(Excerpt) Read more at reason.com ...


TOPICS: Education
KEYWORDS: christmas; massachusetts
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-46 next last
To: dennisw

Light ‘em up, but in a friendly way.

BUTLER PTA CONTACT 2014-2015

For general questions, please email the Butler PTA at: butlerpta@gmail.com

Co-Presidents:
Miriam Lapson miriamlapson@gmail.com
Barbara Bulfoni barbara.bulfoni@gmail.com

Co-President Elect:
Maribel Carvajal maribelcce@msn.com

Financial Secretary:
Priti Gaitonde pitulius@yahoo.com

Nominating Committee Chair:

Recording Secretary:
Steph Wratten stephwratten@gmail.com

Treasurer:
Julie Crockett juliescrockett@gmail.com

Vice Presidents of After-School Enrichment:
Barbara Bulfoni barbara.bulfoni@gmail.com
Kate Abruzzi katharinebca@me.com

Vice Presidents of In-School Enrichment:
Karen Gutterman theguttermans1@verizon.net
Ann Ozawa annozawa@gmail.com

Vice Presidents of Ways and Means:
Laura VanDerHart lvanderhart@hotmail.com
Frank Dill fydill3@aol.com

The Fall PTA Packet contains additional information on the committee chairs.


21 posted on 11/24/2014 11:43:35 AM PST by doug from upland (Obama and the leftists - destroying our country one day at a time)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dennisw
So what about forests? Are field trips to the forest allowed. Are they going to board to the windows of the buses lest they see any pine trees on the way to school?
22 posted on 11/24/2014 11:44:16 AM PST by Idaho_Cowboy (Ride for the Brand. Joshua 24:15)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Calvin Locke

This Butler school is in Belmont, Mass.


23 posted on 11/24/2014 11:46:44 AM PST by Andy'smom (How many more acts of love can we take?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: dennisw
My Jewish neighbors had a Christmas tree and Easter eggs for their child. They didn't want him to hate his religion before he was old enough to understand why he was denied what the other kids in the neighborhood were doing.

They also wished everybody else a "Merry Christmas."

24 posted on 11/24/2014 11:52:08 AM PST by lonestar (It takes a village of idiots to elect a village idiot.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: dennisw

Morons. There is no other word for it.


25 posted on 11/24/2014 12:05:48 PM PST by cld51860 (Volo pro veritas)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dennisw

Yo, Tchaikovsky is just some dead white dude who makes all white music. Far better and more educational to send the kids to a Kwanza rap concert.


26 posted on 11/24/2014 12:11:15 PM PST by JimSEA
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dennisw

So the idiots were afraid the tree was going to fall on the little darlings, or what?

Too much stupid.


27 posted on 11/24/2014 12:18:42 PM PST by madison10
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dennisw

I don’t understand. Even atheists celebrate Christmas. It’s not exclusively a Christian holiday, despite its origins.


28 posted on 11/24/2014 12:19:33 PM PST by Politicalkiddo ("It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority."- Benjamin Franklin)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dennisw

It’s mandantory to take kids on field trips to mosques but there’s a question on going to the Nutcracker? Mindboggling.


29 posted on 11/24/2014 12:21:12 PM PST by bgill (CDC site, "we still do not know exactly how people are infected with Ebola")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dennisw
Why don't they just take them to go see Phillip Glass.


30 posted on 11/24/2014 12:26:12 PM PST by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: bgill

How do they know it’s a Christmas Tree? The word Christmas is never said in the Nutcracker. In fact there are no lyrics.


31 posted on 11/24/2014 12:27:07 PM PST by massgopguy (I owe everything to George Bailey)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: dennisw

“We are living in the age of insanity.” - The late great George Putnam.


32 posted on 11/24/2014 12:48:14 PM PST by BenLurkin (This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dennisw
TEACH
33 posted on 11/24/2014 12:48:42 PM PST by baddog 219
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dennisw

And as a kid who grew up Catholic, no one in my family would have minded one bit if the school taught us the meaning and traditions of Chanukah. I would have been interested to learn.

A teacher in my school on Long Island put up “Happy Chanukah” decorations in her classroom at my school, but no one ever explained to us non-Jewish students what Chanukah was all about.


34 posted on 11/24/2014 12:58:51 PM PST by july4thfreedomfoundation (Amnesty is Obama's Way of Saying "FU" to all those who voted on November 4th)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: dennisw

Bet they wouldnt even think of canceling a class trip to an islamic mosque.


35 posted on 11/24/2014 1:21:15 PM PST by lowbridge
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Cowboy Bob

If The Nutcracker had a gay marriage scene there’d be mandatory attendance required.


36 posted on 11/24/2014 1:30:18 PM PST by TurboZamboni (Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.-JFK)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: july4thfreedomfoundation

I was raised Catholic, but I look forward to Adam Sandler’s version of the Chanukah song every year just as much as a Charlie Brown Christmas, The Little Drummer Boy, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

This weekend one of the Boston radio stations started playing Christmas music. It drove my teenage son crazy. Therefore, I turned it up louder. :)


37 posted on 11/24/2014 1:32:31 PM PST by woodbutcher1963
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: Andy'smom
Was it in the article, and I missed it?

Say, didn't (doesn't?) Mitt Romney live in Belmont?

38 posted on 11/24/2014 1:43:49 PM PST by Calvin Locke
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: dennisw

If they’re afraid of the Christmas tree, they must think the Nutcracker is Hillary Clinton.


39 posted on 11/24/2014 1:46:34 PM PST by BerryDingle (I know how to deal with communists, I still wear their scars on my back from Hollywood-Ronald Reagan)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dennisw

Holy Infant So Tender and Mild!

I’m Jewish and I love Christmas music (not just Jingle Bells, either - my fave is O Holy Night!) and I looooooove the Nutcracker. My son performed in it for years (Doing gymnastic flips as the Russians). Never was exposed to it as a child but the music is wonderful, the story creepy, and always fun to see.


40 posted on 11/24/2014 1:47:02 PM PST by Yaelle
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-46 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson