Group backs change in program name
"Seasonal Celebration" would return to "Christmas Program"
By Bobbi Mlynar
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Reader poll
Do you think the Emporia school board should change the name of the Seasonal Celebration back to the Christmas Program?
- Yes
- No
- Undecided
984 total votes.
By Bobbi Mlynar
mlynar@emporiagazette.com
The Seasonal Celebration would remain the same; only the name would be changed if a group of Emporians can convince the board of education to approve a proposal made Wednesday evening during a board meeting at Mary Herbert Learning Center.
The Rev. Chester Morris earlier in the year had appeared before the board during a public comment segment of the agenda, to ask that the Christmas program be restored to its former format. The annual program had presented the story of the birth of Jesus Christ from about 1935 to 1992. That year, according to Gazette records, an Emporian complained about the format to the American Civil Liberties Union.
The school board in 1993 approved changing the content of the program and a threatened lawsuit did not materialize.
"We're not sure exactly how that happened, but it did," Superintendent John Heim told the board and its audience prior to Morris's statement.
Heim said that no documentation of discussion could be found in minutes of open board meetings, but former board members were able to provide some background for the action.
"The name was actually changed from the Christmas Program to signify that the content was different," Heim said.
The board had voted to change the name to "Winter Festival." However, all available documents referred to the program after 1992 as the "Seasonal Celebration."
The content of the program now includes a variety of music, including traditional Christmas numbers and songs representing cultures ranging from Hebrew to African.
The district already has consulted attorneys about whether the content could revert to its original format.
"What we found was that it's the opinion of the legal experts, I think on both sides of the issue, that ... the content of that program doesn't pass Constitutional muster," Heim said.
Morris prefaced his statement with background information about his communications with an attorney for the American Alliance Defense Fund. His findings were similar to those of the district.
"(The attorney) stated that the 1992 format was very wonderful and very beautiful, but it was just like a church service," Morris said. "Our request tonight is not to change the content of the program but to change the name of it."
Morris said that legal opinion that would allow the action was predicated on Congressional approval of Christmas as a holiday "with religious significance."
Additionally, he said that a Supreme Court ruling also acknowledged certain rights of students.
"The students do not shed their Constitutional right to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate," Morris said.
The board will study the matter for discussion at a later meeting.
A revision was made to the master contract for certified staff members, after a recommendation from a tax-law firm consulted by the Bank of Kansas City. The bank is being considered to administer the educators' 403(b) retirement plan.
According to Susan Hernandez, associate superintendent for finance, the law firm discovered a problem with the language of the agreement, after the Internal Revenue Service released information in August about the final 403(b) regulations.
"As he was reviewing our document, he did find some areas for concern," Hernandez said.
She contacted Emporia National Education Association leaders, who also reviewed the agreement with legal counsel and agreed that the amendment needed to be made.
Nancy Gilpin, representing the ENEA, said that teachers already have voted and have ratified the change.
The board received copies of the Kansas Association of School Boards "Legislative Committee Report to the 2007 Delegate Assembly" that will be presented during the convention in Overland Park in December. The document represents items the KASB plans to promote during the upcoming legislative session.
Heim pointed out a section of the report that he believed could be detrimental to education. The plan would give individual school districts authority to license its own teachers, based on district criteria.
"Right now, that authority lies with the state," Heim said. "It concerns me that (the KASB) is trying to take that away. There's just so many differences in districts, to have 304 different licensing districts is a bad policy, and I don't think we should support that."
Heim also was concerned that such non-uniform licensing could result in not meeting one of the criteria of the No Child Left Behind Act.
"One of the mandates is that every child shall have a highly qualified teacher," he said. "Highly qualified and certified are not the same."
Board member Mike Helbert said he was concerned about another section in the plan, which calls for a state-wide property tax to help fully finance education.
"I'm certainly in favor of the part that talks about fully funding ... but I don't think this board ought to go on record as supporting a property tax increase, or a statewide property tax increase."
Helbert said he would favor income tax over property tax.
Heim said that he believed the KASB wanted the state to assume full responsibility, instead of using the Local Option Budget facet of funding afforded to individual school districts.
"It becomes more equalized when that happens," Heim said.
The KASB document stated "including a statewide mill levy," Helbert said. "I'm personally convinced that property tax is not the best way to fund public education. I'm not sure I want to put my name on that."
Mary Helmer, who was elected as the board's delegate to the convention, said she would like board members to study the report thoroughly and decide what issues would be supported before the convention. The report was tabled and will be discussed at a later meeting.
The board heard a curriculum report about the relationships of coaches, strategists, principals and students from Ben Coltrane and Kim Kirk, principals, and Tammy Torrens and Joy Frevert, coaches.
In other action, the board approved:
-- a list of classes that will be designated as meeting the fine arts credit required for graduation from Emporia High School. The board approved the fine arts addition in 2002; the requirement went into effect for the 2009 graduating class. The approved courses are: all 18 art classes published in the 2007-08 enrollment handbook; all 14 music classes listed in the handbook; Theatre I, II, III, and IV and Stagecraft; and novice forensics and advanced forensics, which includes debate. Associate Superintendent for Learning and INstruction George Abel told the board that additional classes, such as video broadcasting and desktop publishing, may be considered later for approval.
-- the quarterly budget report from Karen Flood, director of budgets.
An executive session called for attorney-client privilege was cancelled because the board's attorney did not attend the meeting.