The Emporia Gazette

February 13, 2012

• Headlines
• Sports
• Forums
• Weather
• Classifieds

• Help
• Log in
• Home

• E-mail story
• Post a comment
• iPod friendly version

LOOKING THROUGH the online archives, if I counted correctly, there have been a total of 82 Emporia Gazette online polls taken beginning September 13, 2006 up to and including last week’s poll of October 25, 2007. Last week’s poll dealt for the second time with the name change of the USD 253 Christmas program.

Of the 82 online polls, on average they seemed to draw about 200 to 500 votes. The five issues drawing the most interest as demonstrated by the highest number of votes tallied, are as follows:

Emporia Gazette online polls top 5 vote-getters

1. Christmas Program (Oct. 25, 2007), 984 votes (78 percent in favor of the change)

2. New restaurants (Jan. 17, 2007), 919 votes

3. Next president (June 7, 2007) 867 votes

4. Christmas Program (Dec. 14, 2006) 804 votes (86 percent in favor of the change)

5. Smoking ban (April 25, 2007) 758 votes

Clearly, there is great interest, as well as strong support for the USD 253 Emporia School Board to seriously consider and declare that the name be changed back to the original - the “Christmas” Program. And despite the line of thinking Pat Kelley propagates in his Oct. 25 article “Nothing to Stop Them,” the constitutionality of this issue has indeed already been addressed. To quote from last week’s re-run 2005 article entitled “Merry Christmas” by Ashley Walker:

According to the American Center for Law and Justice, a Washington , D.C. based not-for-profit public interest law educational group, it is legal to:

- Sing religious Christmas carols at school and/or at Christmas programs if their purpose is the advancement of students’ knowledge of cultural and religious heritage and if they provide an opportunity for students to perform in music, poetry, or drama.

- Place a nativity scene on public property, including schools and school Christmas programs when they are combined with other symbols “such as a menorah or Santa Claus” that depict Christmas as a secular holiday in American culture as well as a religious one.

- Use Biblical references to study the literary or historical origins of Christmas at school and/or school-sponsored activities.

- Say and use the phrase “Merry Christmas” in schools or school-related activities.

The request for the name change came almost a year ago, and since then The Gazette has run two polls. The KVOE radio station also ran a poll in which I believe well over 80 percent voted for the name to be changed back.

Clearly, the overwhelming majority in all three polls have voiced their desire to see this change made. In light of this, how much more discussion needs to take place around this issue before action is taken?

Great leaders are those who are willing to stand up and do the “right” thing, not necessarily the easy thing. Please, do the right thing, USD 253 board members.