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Grinchy remark sends kids home in tears
Lebanon Daily News ^ | 12/23/05 | RORY SCHULER

Posted on 12/23/2005 10:07:40 AM PST by TexasGreg

Grinchy remark sends kids home in tears By RORY SCHULER Staff Writer Lebanon Daily News

LICKDALE — Jamey Schaeffer stretched her mouth open wide, showing off a pair of twin gaps in her smile. With a mouthful of fingers, she said she has no interest in two front teeth for Christmas. Instead, she’d like a Barbie doll from Santa Claus — and Santa Claus only.

But a substitute music teacher almost came between the 6-year-old and a Christmas Eve spent dancing cheek to cheek with sugar plums.

Theresa Farrisi stood in for Schaeffer’s regular music teacher one day last week. One of her assignments was to read Clement C. Moore’s famous poem, “A Visit from Saint Nicholas” to a first-grade class at Lickdale Elementary School.

“The poem has great literary value, but it goes against my conscience to teach something which I know to be false to children, who are impressionable,” said Farrisi, 43, of Myerstown. “It’s a story. I taught it as a story. There’s no real person called Santa Claus living at the North Pole.”

Farrisi doesn’t believe in Santa Claus, and she doesn’t think anyone else should, either. She made her feelings clear to the classroom full of 6- and 7-year-olds, some of whom went home crying.

Schaeffer got off the school bus later that day, dragging her backpack in the mud, tears in her angry little eyes.

“She yelled at me, ‘Why did you lie?’” recalled Jamey’s mother, Elizabeth. “‘Why didn’t you tell me Santa Claus died?’”

Elizabeth Schaeffer said she was appalled by Farrisi’s bluntness.

“I had to call the school,” said Schaeffer, a part-time custodial employee for the school district who is on temporary leave after complications from her last child’s birth. “I had to do something.”

Meanwhile, Farrisi, who is well versed on the history of “Santa Claus” — the traditional and literary figure — clarified her comments.

“I did not tell the students Santa Claus was dead,” she explained. “I said there was a man named Nickolas of Myrna who died in 343 A.D., upon whom the Santa Claus myth (is based).”

On Monday night, Jamey started to recite Moore’s famous poem while sitting on a couch next to a freshly cut tree, trimmed in tinsel and topped with a golden star: “’Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house. No creatures stirred.”

She paused, looked up, and said that’s when the teacher interjected, just a few lines before the verse that announces the arrival of “a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer.”

“The teacher stopped reading and told us no one comes down the chimney,” Jamey said, curling into a ball on the couch, bracing her chin on her knees, her voice shrinking away like melting ice cream. “She said our parents buy the presents, not Santa.”

Sharing in the belief of Santa Claus is a very special event in the Schaeffer home. Jamey’s the second youngest of five children. The three oldest have already grown up and left the family nest. Only Jamey and her 18-month-old sister, Amanda, remain.

Last year, Elizabeth Schaeffer recalled, Santa left a trail of boot prints in charred ashes from his feet-first landing in the fireplace. And this year, the family will continue their tradition of leaving him a plate of cookies, a tall glass of milk and a ripe, shaved carrot for Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer.

The Schaeffer family wasn’t the only one taken aback by Farrisi’s approach to Santa.

Tim and Beth Rittle said they found their 7-year-old daughter, Holly, in tears in the back seat of their car after they picked her up from school that day.

“All of a sudden, Holly just started crying,” Beth Rittle said. “She said she had a substitute in music class, and she told the class there’s no such thing as Santa Claus.”

Schaeffer and Rittle both called Northern Lebanon School District Superintendent Don L. Bell.

Since the issue involves personnel, Bell said Monday, there is little he can say about the incident, adding that it has not been determined if any disciplinary action is warranted against Farrisi.

Bell said he was aware that several parents have expressed concerns about the incident.

He also noted that the handling of Santa Claus isn’t covered in the school code.

“We do not have a Santa Claus policy,” he said. “It’s unfortunate, but I really can’t say anything about it.”

Farrisi said she considered approaching the school’s administration with her concerns about how to handle Santa Claus in class. Instead, she said, she decided to add a disclaimer to her lesson.

“Those same children are going to know someday that what their parents taught them is false,” she ex-plained. “There is no Santa Claus.”

Meanwhile, Elizabeth Schaeffer was carefully thinking about her next step. She decided to make a photocopy of editor Francis P. Church’s famous response to a little girl, who wrote to The New York Sun many decades ago, asking the same question Schaeffer’s daughter struggled with last week.

“I mailed (Farrisi) a copy of ‘Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus,’” she said, giggling with satisfaction. “I wish I could be there when she opens it.”

As for Jamey, in an attempt to reaffirm her spot on Santa’s nice list, she drew up a new letter in bright red magic marker, a message destined for the Santa she refuses to abandon.

“Dear Santa ... How is the North Pole?” she said, reading her letter loudly and proudly. “How is Mrs. Claus? You are Great. From Jamey.”


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: christmas; firstgrade; grinch; santaclaus; school
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To: safisoft
See? You are morally superior to me! My children went to public school, as do my grandchildren. We just aren't as committed as you.

Merry Christmas, and may Santa bring you a special gift!

121 posted on 12/23/2005 2:01:53 PM PST by Miss Marple (Lord, please look after Mozart Lover's son and keep him strong.)
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To: Miss Marple
Besides, who's to say that somewhere there ISN'T a Santa?

So, growing up with "Santa" didn't hurt your view of reality?
122 posted on 12/23/2005 2:01:56 PM PST by safisoft (Give me Torah!)
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To: Miss Marple

Our children believe in God but even the adult children know better than to tell Mom there is no santa.


123 posted on 12/23/2005 2:02:26 PM PST by Raycpa
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To: Miss Marple
Merry Christmas, and may Santa bring you a special gift!

Happy Hanukkah!
124 posted on 12/23/2005 2:02:43 PM PST by safisoft (Give me Torah!)
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To: safisoft
Nope! Somewhere there are things which we can't explain...miracles at Lourdes, unanswerable things in the galaxies, weird coincidences which save people from disaster, medically impossibole remissions of cancer.

There are all sorts of things which remain mysteries, including Santa. Logically he is a myth, but there is an infinitesimal chance that somewhere, Santa lives. Maybe in an alternate universe, who knows?

125 posted on 12/23/2005 2:05:45 PM PST by Miss Marple (Lord, please look after Mozart Lover's son and keep him strong.)
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To: safisoft
Well, Happy Hannukah to you as well!

I love this time of year, and have always thought that the Hannukah and Christmas happening at the same time is a message from God, and an encouragement to share, love others, and have a wonderful holiday time.

126 posted on 12/23/2005 2:07:43 PM PST by Miss Marple (Lord, please look after Mozart Lover's son and keep him strong.)
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To: Kingosaurus

I'm thinking they have other "issues" besides Santa Claus; like control and/or parenting problems.


127 posted on 12/23/2005 2:08:04 PM PST by Howlin (Defeatism may have its partisan uses, but it is not justified by the facts. - GWB, 12/18/05)
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To: Miss Marple
There are all sorts of things which remain mysteries, including Santa. Logically he is a myth, but there is an infinitesimal chance that somewhere, Santa lives. Maybe in an alternate universe, who knows?

The truth isn't "out there". Pick up your Bible and read. Put your feet on the ground. Live like every idle word, every idle minute counts. For there is an Eye Who Sees, and all our deeds are recorded in a Book.

Shalom, and have a blessed Christmas.
128 posted on 12/23/2005 2:08:45 PM PST by safisoft (Give me Torah!)
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To: Kingosaurus

BTW, I feel sad for people who have never seen the "I Believe" look on their children's faces; we have grandchildren now and we're getting to enjoy it all over!


129 posted on 12/23/2005 2:08:47 PM PST by Howlin (Defeatism may have its partisan uses, but it is not justified by the facts. - GWB, 12/18/05)
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To: safisoft
I am an American. I have lived here for thirty years. I have raised sons here. We didn't use Public School, which is probably why we never had the issue come up. Silly us.

Well yes, if you sent your children to a private Jewish school I imagine Santa Claus wasn't a hot topic.

So, you come to this thread and make assertions about how ridiculous it is that a non-believing child might be forced to lie while discussing Santa Claus when you really have very little experience with the topic at all. Interesting.

130 posted on 12/23/2005 2:09:30 PM PST by Dianna
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To: saquin

Typical lib - if they can't be a perpetual child and God knows they try - they will see to it that actual children can't enjoy their childhood either.

Farisi's next class for your six year old will be instructions on how to clothe a cucumber with a condom.


131 posted on 12/23/2005 2:10:48 PM PST by Let's Roll ( "Congressmen who ... undermine the military ... should be arrested, exiled or hanged" - A. Lincoln)
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To: Dianna
Well yes, if you sent your children to a private Jewish school I imagine Santa Claus wasn't a hot topic.

I am not Jewish. My wife and I homeschooled our two oldest sons, and our third is being homeschooled now.
132 posted on 12/23/2005 2:10:58 PM PST by safisoft (Give me Torah!)
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To: d-back

Hopefully Santa Claus will visit her and dump a load of coal on her front yard.


133 posted on 12/23/2005 2:11:25 PM PST by expatguy (http://laotze.blogspot.com/)
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To: safisoft
But considering the fact that we celebrate Hanukkah this time of year, and we celebrate the birth of the Messiah during the Feast of Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) in Sept/Oct (which was the more likely time of His birth) my kids don't have to answer the "Santa" question - they just could say, "Santa doesn't come to houses with Menorahs." < grin >

I am not Jewish.

Whatever floats your boat.

134 posted on 12/23/2005 2:14:07 PM PST by Dianna
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To: TexasGreg

People like this should not teach small children.


135 posted on 12/23/2005 2:21:40 PM PST by HoustonCurmudgeon (I will not support evil just because "It's the Law.")
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To: TexasGreg
Gee, can't we let the children enjoy the myth for a little while?

Amen! The kids'll learn the truth soon enough on their own. Let them enjoy this little thing while they can.

136 posted on 12/23/2005 2:22:22 PM PST by Junior (Identical fecal matter, alternate diurnal period)
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To: Howlin
What exactl is the difference in YOU not telling your children about Santa Claus and them not telling their friends?

Not one thing.

You're dodging the point, which is about the only thing you can do, since you're clearly wrong.

If I instruct my children not to reveal a secret, or to leave it to the appropriate authorities to correct the misconceptions of other children, that is NOT the same thing as INSTRUCTING THEM TO LIE (which is precisely the allegation and false accusation that you made).

Any assertion to the contrary (should you continue to make it) will only prove that you're an imbecile.

137 posted on 12/23/2005 2:23:28 PM PST by Luke Skyfreeper
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To: Luke Skyfreeper
If I instruct my children not to reveal a secret, or to leave it to the appropriate authorities to correct the misconceptions of other children, that is NOT the same thing as INSTRUCTING THEM TO LIE (which is precisely the allegation and false accusation that you made).

And when discussions of Santa come up, as they inevitably do this time of year, do your children "play along" so as not to reveal the secret or remain mute?

138 posted on 12/23/2005 2:29:31 PM PST by Dianna
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To: Howlin
You may not lie to your children, but if you tell them not to tell other children, you're telling them to lie.

Oh, and here you are again, making the same idiotic, illogical, non-sequitur, and falsely accusing honest people of lying.

So... tell me something. If desisting from proclaiming the absolute TRUTH about Santa Claus to other children is LYING (as you have stubbornly contended), what is overtly telling them that the popular children's version?

Obviously, that's lying as well, but of a stronger sort.

So not only are you accusing honest parents (who share with their children the truth of St. Nicholas) of lying (or at least of forcing their kids to lie).

You are also calling ALL ON THIS THREAD WHO ALLOW THEIR CHILDREN TO ENTERTAIN THE FANCIFUL IDEA OF SANTA CLAUS LIARS AS WELL.

In fact, to process your logic, the ONLY people who AREN'T either LIARS or THOSE WHO MAKE THEIR CHILDREN INTO LIARS are those who both tell their children the full unvarnished truth of Santa Claus, and insist that their children tell all of their friends as well.

So tell me, Howlin, is this what you personally do? Because if it isn't, then you're not only a false accuser, but a hypocrite.

Oh. And a Merry Christmas to you, too. :-)

139 posted on 12/23/2005 2:34:21 PM PST by Luke Skyfreeper
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Comment #140 Removed by Moderator


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