December 10, 2018, 10:24 PM
IcabodHere’s the print version
“An elementary school principal in Elkhorn Public Schools may have earned the inside track to Santa’s naughty list.
Manchester Elementary principal Jennifer Sinclair issued a memo to staff prohibiting all Christmas-related symbols at the school northwest of 168th and Blondo Streets.
The memo caused an uproar with parents and teachers, some of whom got in touch with a Florida-based First Amendment group, Liberty Counsel.
District spokeswoman Kara Perchal released a statement on behalf of the district indicating that, as of Thursday, Sinclair had been placed on administrative leave. Perchal said there would be no further comment since it was a personnel issue.
The district said it wouldn’t make the memo public, but Liberty Counsel did.
Banned items listed included Santas, Christmas trees, “Elf on the Shelf,” singing Christmas carols, playing Christmas music, candy canes and reindeer, homemade ornament gifts, Christmas movies and red and green items.
Regarding candy canes, the notice said, “the shape is a ‘J’ for Jesus.” An ornament? “This assumes that the family has a Christmas tree, which assumes they celebrate Christmas. I challenge the thought of, ‘Well they can just hang it somewhere else.’ ”
Liberty Counsel sent a letter to the Elkhorn district asserting that the ban showed hostility to Christians and demanding its reversal.
District officials hastily reversed the ban, saying the principal had violated district policy.
Justin Knight, a lawyer representing the district, replied to Liberty Counsel in a letter.
He wrote that the administration had “advised Manchester Elementary School staff members of the applicable Board Policy (that does allow certain Christmas symbols) and will work with staff to correct any erroneous communications and clarify any misunderstandings.”
Every winter, America’s educators wrestle with how to deal with the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause — commonly interpreted as requiring the separation of church and state — while recognizing the traditions on which the holidays are based.
Although most public school districts have found a way to balance those interests, fear of lawsuits and confusion about the law have driven some school boards and teachers to cut religious symbols or songs from school settings.
Over time, in an effort to recognize students of different faiths or no faith at all, schools have renamed Christmas parties and Christmas concerts as holiday parties and holiday concerts. Halloween parties have been renamed harvest parties.
Generally, attorneys say schools are fine including religious songs and symbols, as long as school officials are not excluding the songs or symbols of certain groups, there’s some educational purpose to them and they’re not advocating one faith over another.
That leads, in many cases, to holiday programs featuring Christian, Jewish and Kwanzaa songs, as well as secular ones.
Critics are quick to point out when educators don’t get it right. Conservative media outlets and Christian websites, sensitive to any evidence of a “war on Christmas,” picked up on the Elkhorn story this week. They included Glenn Beck’s The Blaze, the Drudge Report and Rush Limbaugh.
The Elkhorn district has a policy to guide teachers regarding religion in the classroom.
The policy says that “Christmas trees, Santa Claus, and Easter eggs and bunnies are considered to be secular, seasonal symbols and may be displayed as teaching aids provided they do not disrupt the instructional program for students.”
Teachers may teach about religious holidays as part of “an objective and secular educational program,” it says.
Celebrating religious holidays in the form of religious worship or other similar practices is prohibited at school, it says.
The policy says the study of holidays should “reflect the diverse heritage of the United States.”
Religious symbols, such as crosses, crèches or menorahs may be used as teaching aids in the classroom, provided that the symbols are displayed as an example of the cultural and/or religious heritage of the holiday and are temporary in nature, it says.
If put on a bulletin board, the policy says, religious symbols may be viewed as promoting a certain religious perspective.
Music, art, literature and drama with religious themes may be included in Elkhorn teaching about holidays, “provided that they are presented in a religiously neutral, prudent and objective manner and related to sound, secular educational goals.”
Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, said the principal’s memo was the “most unique and I would say outrageous example” he’s seen of censoring Christmas symbols.
He called it “blatantly unconstitutional.”
“I don’t see how anyone could have claimed ignorance and claimed this was required by church-and-state law,” he said. “It just goes far beyond anything I’ve ever seen.”
He said he had never seen such a detailed list of what’s acceptable and what’s not.
The principal did allow some items, among them sledding, hot chocolate, polar bears, penguins, snowmen, gingerbread people, yetis and Olaf , the snowman from Disney’s “Frozen.”
Staver said the principal indicated in her memo that she wanted to be inclusive, but that her ban excluded Christians and people who celebrate Christmas.
Staver said his organization was prepared to sue if the ban was upheld. Liberty Counsel is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of life and the family, with pro bono assistance and representation.
Thankfully, Staver said, district officials responded quickly to their demand letter.
Sinclair, the principal, worked in Westside Community Schools before taking the Elkhorn job.
She was a teacher leader at Hillside Elementary from 2015 to 2018, according to Westside spokeswoman Brandi Paul. Prior to that, she was a second-grade teacher at Westbrook Elementary from 2012 to 2015.
Efforts to reach Sinclair for comment were unsuccessful Thursday, but in an email to parents Wednesday she said she made a mistake, contrary to district policy, and sincerely apologized to the staff for any confusion, concern and negative attention it brought the school.
“I love the Manchester staff and our students,” she said. “It is an honor to serve as the principal at Manchester Elementary.”
She’s been suspended.
