Principal: Anne Sosky asosky@egreen.wednet.edu
Now if they ranted about killing cops and bangin' chicks that would had been acceptable.
Let's be careful here, and make sure that the right thing is being argued.
Sounds to me from the story that the problem is that they're blocking traffic in a high-traffic area. If that's all this is, they should be more reasonable.
I am sure they will receive the same treatment from the media that the Imams received after attempting to "pray in public" on the airline... while talking about Osama bin Laden, moving into the "9/11 formation" and bashing Bush.
the principal continued, "however next week is "tolerance week" and we fully expect each student to dress as muslims and attendance at the "islam is a religion of peace" seminar is required. all students will be required to take muslim names and a study of the koran will be added to the first period "introduction to home economics" class..(do I even need a sarc/ tag??)
Not so fast. It sounds as if they were asked to have their meetings in a room and refused to do it. The school has a right to say where they can meet.
I think they should have accepted the private room if their prayer was disrupting student traffic flow. Would those who support this support Muslim prayer rugs in the commons area too? I don't hold to the notion that any religious group should have the right to disrupt the normal operations of a secular organization, including the schools. This sounds like the kids were trying to be confrontational, or in-your-face about their prayer. My kids prayed with fellow students before high school too, but at their church an hour before school started. Were they truly seeking God's blessings or were they trying to make a political statement?
Off to rehab for them.
Rapes, robbery, beatings,stabbings,shootings,drinking, drug sales, drug use,prostitution and violent gangs. Never mind that they can't read or write, MUST stop the praying!
They get expelled from a public school, is that a really punishment or is it a reward?
It's amazing to see the anti-Christian hatred growing daily, right before our eyes.
Come on everyone, this country was founded on Christianity, and we have the freedom on religion and the free exercise thereof. The muslims can do their praying anywhere they want. To a true conservative, what in the world do we have to argue about? This is why our country and government is in such a mess, so many are afraid to stand up for what they believe. Caving at every liberal wish. If God is in your life and you want to pray at a restaurant or school, or on the street, you should not be punished for it. Some of you better go back and read you "Bill of Rights".
A co-ed masturbation seminar would be ok tho??
shee-it
Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
Let's not Freep. These students were offered a room to pray in but that wasn't enough for them. They had to disrupt traffic and disturb others, all in the name of prayer. If all they wanted to do was pray, they clearly could have used the room that was offered. But no, they obviously wanted to proselytize by this public prayer spectacle they were offering up. What was it that Jesus said about those who pray in public?
No one gets suspended because they pray. This is a story of some kids who chose to defy a legitimate request by administrators to not disrupt other students," Bill Bentley said. Administrators had offered a classroom for the students' use, to ensure other students were not offended and the group did not obstruct traffic.
Friday, March 02, 2007
By HOWARD BUCK, Columbian Staff Writer
A dust-up over group prayers in the Heritage High School commons before the start of school triggered the suspension of a dozen students on Friday.
It also quickly threatened to fan up into a broader skirmish in the culture war.
By day’s end, “pagans,” “Satanists” and religious freedom were words in play, and a Florida-based group affiliated with Jerry Falwell had announced it would defend the students.
A top Evergreen Public Schools administrator downplayed the incident but confirmed that 12 pupils were disciplined after they ignored a faculty order to stop meeting for prayer in the commons area at the 2,200-student high school near Orchards, one of Clark County’s largest schools.
A praying student ordered to detention on Friday said two group co-leaders received 10-day suspensions, while eight others were given three-day suspensions. They had been warned on Thursday not to meet again in the commons, she said.
Bill Bentley, an Evergreen assistant superintendent who oversees Heritage, said pupils were warned days ago that their informal morning prayer sessions were blocking traffic in the crowded commons. Other students complained to school faculty about the prayers, he said.
Heritage administrators offered use of a classroom to the group, per written district policy that allows religious or other student clubs to use school facilities during non-school hours, with limited supervision.
Bentley said it was the physical “disruption” of the prayer group inside the busy campus corridor and open defiance of faculty orders that earned the suspensions, not the prayers themselves.
“No one gets suspended because they pray. This is a story of some kids who chose to defy a legitimate request by administrators to not disrupt other students,” Bentley said.
Per privacy rules, he would not elaborate on details of the suspensions.
School officials had contacted several parents and youth pastors to explain the situation. That allowed word to spread. On Friday, the media quickly latched onto the story. One Portland television crew reportedly came to Heritage to interview students.
Also, the Orlando, Fla.-based Liberty Counsel, which is affiliated with Jerry Falwell and his conservative, religious Liberty University in southern Virginia, issued a news release declaring it would defend the Heritage students.
“It is absolutely outrageous that the school allowed one Satanist student to exercise a heckler’s veto over the other students’ speech,” said Anita L. Staver, Liberty Counsel president. Liberty Counsel describes itself as “a nonprofit litigation, education and policy organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of human life and the traditional family.
“ Bentley called the entire flap a “non-story.”
“I’m positive there was also some outside influence on this. There were some folks pushing to make this an issue that aren’t part of our Evergreen community,” he said.
Bentley said leaders of the prayer group had been given a district brochure that lists “Students’ Rights of Religious Expression and Practice.” The guide cites the right of “student-initiated religious clubs” to gain access to “facilities and media” on the same basis as other student clubs. Evergreen policy also allows students to individually pray “unobtrusively” at any time, so long as it does not interfere with normal school instruction.
But a member of the loose, multi-faith group disciplined on Friday said it doesn’t want club designation, nor to be pushed to a “secluded” classroom.
Junior student Megan Gaultier, 16, who first joined the prayers on Thursday, said the 10-to-15 minute, standing prayer circles, where students held hands and prayed softly in one portion of the commons-cafeteria area, were purposely low-key.
When one student Gaultier described as “pagan” objected to their prayers but in a respectful manner, the group obliged by moving elsewhere, Gaultier said. But four or five students complained to administrators, apparently forcing the crackdown, she said. The prayer group had not yet decided whether to accept an alternate site by Friday, when members were pulled aside and suspended, she said.
“We’re not bothering anybody. If we’re not preaching and passing out fliers, why can’t we do it?” Gaultier said. “Basically, there are just the pagans who are against it.” She identified herself as Baptist, while several Russian Orthodox students, a Methodist and a Catholic formed the roughly week-old group, she said.
The prayer circle’s purpose is visibility, to give other shy students the strength to express their faith, Gaultier said. “If we’re in a secluded room, they can’t just join in” as she had, Gaultier said. Group members’ friends have prayed at other Vancouver and Evergreen high schools without a hassle, she said.
Kathryn Murdock, attorney for Vancouver Public Schools, said prayer groups likely were active in Vancouver district high schools. Students’ “right to freedom of expression” is honored when it’s not distracting, a point she has long hammered home in staff training sessions, she said.
“If they’re not intimidating other kids, if they’re not being coercive, they would be allowed to continue in their prayer,” Murdock said. If pre-, post-school or lunchtime group prayers grow disruptive because of outsider taunting, “the problem is with the students doing the taunting, and those are the students that need to be dealt with,” she said.
Neither Gaultier nor Bentley said heckling occurred at Heritage. Gaultier said assistant principals were supportive and had stayed “calm” despite the sanctioning.
Evergreen policies fall completely in line with common public school practice, Bentley said. There was no bias against the praying students, he repeated.
“They’re in the middle of a very busy area, grouped together, so others couldn’t get around,” he said. “Other kids cannot avoid it. That’s not appropriate, whether they’re praying or whatever they’re doing.”