Nothing is changed
By Patrick Kelley
Originally published 01:10 p.m., November 15, 2007
Updated 01:10 p.m., November 15, 2007
Wednesday night's vote by the Emporia Board of Education was a disappointment to some good, devout people in Emporia.
They wanted the Seasonal Celebration to get its old name back, to be the Christmas Program once again. The school board, in a 5-2 vote, said no.
Supporters of a name change suggested that it would be a sort of compromise. They said that changing the name, but not the content, of the program, would probably pass constitutional muster with the current U.S. Supreme Court. That may be so.
But if the name change was challenged — and it almost certainly would have been — the expense of defending a lawsuit all the way to the Supreme Court would have been ruinous. That would have been a high price to pay for simply changing the name of a school program — a price many taxpayers would not be willing to pay.
The majority of the school board members — whatever their feelings about the old Christmas Program — acted sensibly in declining to involve the school district in such a divisive and potentially expensive issue.
So Emporia remains in status quo.
The schools continue to educate children.
Emporia’s many churches remain open and untaxed, free to guide children in the paths their parents want them to follow.
The Seasonal Celebration will remain the Seasonal Celebration — a good-hearted attempt to provide something meaningful and beautiful for all Emporians.
The people who want the old program back — in name, if not in content — will continue to want that. Someday, they may be successful, but not this year.
But, program or no program, Christmas will continue to be Christmas in Emporia and everywhere, now and forever, world without end.
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tmac (anonymous) says...
Amen, Mr. Kelley. Amen!!
November 15, 2007 at 5:18 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )