Byron school religion decision pending

ANTIOCH - Two years after a federal judge threw out her family's lawsuit claiming Byron school district violated the U.S. Constitution by having seventh-grade students pretend to be Muslims in a world history class, Tiffany Eklund is still upset.

She's not opposed to the academic teaching of Islam, or any religion for that matter. But she doesn't understand why other religions weren't studied for the same amount of time in her son's class at Excelsior Middle School. Eklund feels strongly enough to have appealed the district court's ruling to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. A three-judge panel in San Francisco recently heard arguments and is expected to rule on the case in the next few months.

"They (school teachers) should spend time simulating all religions, and they can't," said Eklund, who with her husband, Jonas, sued the Byron Union School District in 2002 on behalf of two of their children. "It should be all or none."

In the lawsuit, which spurred a national debate on whether religious role-playing should be allowed in schools, the Eklunds argued that having students take Muslim names, memorize Muslim proverbs and recite passages from the Koran amounts to religious training. The school district, meanwhile, says that prohibiting such role-playing games could restrict free speech and common teaching techniques.

"It would be terribly dangerous for the courts to get into the business of second guessing educators' decisions on how to present classroom materials, because this was a secular presentation of religion," she said.

Stephen Barnett, a professor emeritus at UC Berkeley's Boalt School of Law who specializes in academic freedom issues, said that if overturned, the ruling also could limit First Amendment freedom of speech rights. But, he said, it's unlikely the Court of Appeals would overturn the district judge's ruling.

In 2003, U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton ruled that the role-playing didn't violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment as it was a simulation of Islam that didn't constitute actual religious activity or an establishment of the religion.

The Eklunds still contend that there was an endorsement of Islam, regardless of whether that was the intent, said Edward White, an attorney with the Thomas More Law Center who represented the Eklunds. The public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Mich., focuses on family values and Christian religious freedom. If the appellate court doesn't overturn the decision, White said the next step could be to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. He said a similar suit was brought before the Supreme Court in 2001, but it wasn't heard.

"When parents send kids to public school, it's with the trust that students are going to be educated, not indoctrinated," White said. "No one has a problem with creative teaching. It's only when it crosses the line and indoctrinates the kids."

School district Superintendent Thomas Meyer said that at no point was religion taught, and the role-playing was "blown way out of proportion."

"The teachers were following California curriculum in the best and most honorable ways for the benefit of the students' education," Meyer said. "Role-playing is a good pedagogical strategy that good teachers everywhere use to help students understand history. We're not doing anything different in Byron than in any other school district in America."

The role-playing was part of supplemental material for a state-required unit on Islam. Brooke Carlin, the teacher who led the role-playing and one of two teachers named as a co-defendant in the suit, spent three weeks on the subject, which took place around Sept. 11, 2001. Role-playing also was used in a unit on medieval history and the role of Christianity. Chase Eklund, who is now a 17-year-old junior, played a priest during that unit, his mother said.

Although Carlin did not teach the class the next year, the Eklunds did not allow their daughter Samantha to participate in the unit on Islam. She studied the French Revolution instead, according to court documents.

The role-playing material, which is still available to teachers, has not been used since the 2001-02 school year, said Excelsior Middle School Principal Nancie Castro. She said that has nothing to do with the court decision or the lawsuit, but rather the range of material a teacher can use. Carlin has since left the school district to teach high school in Concord, Castro said.

Linda Lye, an attorney for the school district, said if the appeals court overturns the district court's decision it could have a chilling effect on teachers who want to use creative instructional techniques. ... "It would be terribly dangerous for the courts to get into the business of second guessing educators' decisions on how to present classroom materials, ...

Well, it looks like you are going to get your way, sweetie. Of course we wouldn't want there to be a chilling effect on agenda-driven teachers using their creative instructional techniques. Especially when it comes to issues of religion or morality, public school teachers are certainly best suited to instruct American youth. We could never afford the danger of having the parents wishes be predominant or even respected. The public education system must have the final word on what and how our children are taught in the schools. For further proof of this, please see Fields v. Palmdale School District. This is the case decided last week by the 9th circus holding that if a school district wanted to give sex surveys to 3rd-graders, that this was no business of the parents because creative techniques must allowed whether the parents object or not.

seventh-grade students pretend to be Muslims in a world history class...
...
spent three weeks on the subject, which took place around Sept. 11, 2001.

Unless school doesn't start in September over there, that's near the beginning of the school year. Why would they already be learning history from 600AD-present so early in the year?

When I was in 7th grade in CA public schools years ago, we started with ancient civilizations like the Sumerians and Mesopotamians. Then we spent most of the year on ancient Egypt, after which we spent a long time on the Greeks. Probably less than a quarter of the school year was devoted to the last 20 centuries (including the Romans, the Dark Ages, the Renaissance, world exploration, etc.), and I don't recall learning anything about Islam -- the only religious material I remember we covered were ancient Egyptian polytheism and Greek Mythology. Thankfully, we also didn't have any significant role-playing by that age.

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