Posted on 03/23/2007 5:09:23 AM PDT by Ellesu
TIVERTON — The Easter Bunny was to have made a stop at a craft fair at the Tiverton Middle School tomorrow, appearing for photos with students as part of a fundraising effort sponsored by the school’s Parent-Teacher Council.
But Schools Supt. William Rearick called a halt to the use of the word “Easter” at a school event, just as the word “Christmas” is out of bounds in school publications and activities.
Instead of the Easter Bunny, the Parent-Teacher Council booth will offer photos with Peter Rabbit.
Similarly, Rearick said, he has told officials of the Tiverton Land Trust that a flier inviting children to an egg hunt cannot include the word “Easter.”
Rearick said he planned to review the proposed wording — which a Land Trust official said does not include the word “Easter” — before deciding whether students can take the flier home. Rearick said yesterday, “We’re trying to walk a fine line between promoting any religion” while permitting celebrations.
“I don’t like the term ‘politically correct,’ ” Rearick said, but during the last year and a half or two years, he has become “more aware of folks who don’t have a Christian background.”
He said he has made it a practice to be “careful of not trying to promote one particular religion” in the schools.
For example, he said, the schools have spring vacation, not Easter vacation.
He said two members of the School Committee, Jan Bergandy and Leonard Wright, are drafting a proposal for a written policy intended to keep the schools on neutral ground when it comes to religious holidays. The proposal will be aired publicly and will be submitted for a vote of the committee, Rearick said.
Such a policy presumably would have to address events such as the Tiverton High School annual Christmas Concert, which was promoted last December, among other venues, in the newsletter of the Walter E. Ranger Elementary School under the headline "Christmas Celebrations."
Rearick nixed the Easter Bunny in response to a complaint from Burk, vice chairman of the School Committee.
Burk said yesterday that the appearance of an Easter Bunny at a school event would violate federal prohibitions against the public schools “soliciting or encouraging religious activities or participating in such activities.”
Elsewhere, similar government bans on the Easter Bunny and Easter egg hunts have become fodder for critics who say there’s nothing religious about these symbols. But Burk, who volunteered that he was raised as a Roman Catholic, said that the Easter Bunny has been part of Easter celebrations as long as he can remember. “Without Easter, there would be no Easter Bunny,” he said.
Jessica Caldwell, president of the Parent-Teacher Council, said she did not object to Rearick’s request that the group switch from the Easter Bunny to Peter Rabbit at tomorrow’s craft fair.
“I really don’t see this as a problem. It’s really to be more sensitive to the religions,” she said.
Laura Epke, a member of the board of directors of the Tiverton Land Trust, said she had no objection to omitting the word “Easter” from the flier about the egg hunt.
Elsewhere in the country, the Easter Bunny and the Easter egg hunt have not evaporated as quietly.
A resident of Walnut Creek, Calif., struck a nerve when he wrote a letter to the editor of an area newspaper about a month ago lambasting the decision of town officials to rename the annual Easter egg hunt as a spring egg hunt featuring the spring bunny.
It didn’t matter that the decision had been made five years ago, or that Walnut Creek was not alone among area communities that had edited the word “Easter” out of their springtime children’s events.
Michael Runzler’s remark that “an Easter egg hunt is about as religious as drinking beer on St. Patrick’s Day or giving roses on St. Valentine’s Day” got him a spot on Fox News, which was picked up on Comedy Central television in a parody headlined “Attack on Easter.”
Last year, St. Paul, Minn., was lampooned nationwide after its human rights director ordered an Easter rabbit and a “Happy Easter” sign removed from City Hall.
I don't recall why 'articulate' is on the banned list. How did that happen?
I was just thinking that myself.
You forgot "Confederate Flag" & eventually if they have their way, "common sense".
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