BROOKSVILLE - It had been a hard Friday at Brooksville Elementary School, with lots of misbehavior that didn't bode well for the start of state testing the following week.
So the principal and a few staff members appealed to a higher power.
On the night of Feb. 2, they prayed and blessed their students' desks with prayer oil.
The oil was still on desks the following Monday when teachers opened their classrooms.
"We thought it was vandalism. It was greasy. It was oily," said fourth-grade teacher Chris Becker, who resigned later that week to take a teaching job in Citrus County.
When Becker learned that it was prayer oil on the desks, "I was very offended by that because I'm not a Christian."
Principal Mary LeDoux said she found nothing wrong with what she and "four or five" colleagues did, but said staff members agreed to hold future prayer meetings off campus after she had a conversation with superintendent Wendy Tellone.
"It was staff members on their own time who said, 'Do you mind if we say some prayers for the kids on the Friday night before FCAT, so the kids would do well?'" LeDoux said, adding that no children participated.
School district officials said they are not investigating the incident.
"We also can't discriminate against folks who want to practice or live within their religious practice, as long as it's not disruptive," said J. Paul Carland, a lawyer for the Hernando County schools.
But an official with the American Civil Liberties Union said the religious group crossed a constitutional line, effectively imposing their beliefs by leaving prayer oil on the desks for children and staff members to see.
"If the principal and teachers want to have some kind of prayer after hours, that's not a constitutional problem," said Rebecca Steele, director of the ACLU office in Tampa. "But they did leave tangible evidence of their religious activity, (and) that was troubling to people." -------------------- Shoes And Other Feet. Owlfeather
Do you think they would have had a problem if, say a Wiccan group, had held a ritual, cast some spells, and forgot to erase the chalk pentacles on all the desks?
I think they would've had the FBI on the case looking for the Satanic cult responsible for threatening the lives and immortal souls or their children.
Nothing will come of this. These "poor oppressed Christians" will have this incident swept under the rug by their coffee break. If "we" had done this, they would be howling for blood.
To them, religious tolerance is a one way street. Owlfeather
Left oil on the desks? Godds! What were they thinking!! Just think of all the tax dollars that would've been wasted on replacing books/papers/tests that the oil could've gotten on and ruined! All because they were too lazy to clean up after themselves... silly people just don't think sometimes. Just a little windex and paper towels woulda done the trick.
"Lucifer always has reasons for doing what He does. He rarely explains. His intentions are only malevolent toward malicious people..."-JOB: A Comedy of Justice "So powerful is the light of unity that it can illuminate the whole earth."-Baha u llah Active member since December, 2001
Posts: 997 | Location: Streamin' Tunes from the home of the 101st! | Registered: April 05, 2006
Yup, if it had been a Pagan group, or a Pagan ritual, there would have be a full-scale witch hunt and the burnings would have burnt up the entire state!
Posts: 825 | Location: I hate Texas | Registered: April 05, 2006
Being from FLA I have to laugh at this. Every year theres all kinds of talk about this test. I think prayers would have been enough. But man, its amazing how stressed people get about this test. To think they resorted to an extreme doesn't surprise me. But come on people.
Teachers get all crazy over those tests here, too. They make the kids feel like if they don't do good on this test they won't pass to the next grade, which is so far from the truth. All the kids get really nervous. The whole state practically shuts down just so all the kids can be in bed by 9 so they'll be good and rested for this test. It's crazy!! I think if the teachers would do a good job leading up to the test then they should have no worries. But to put oil on the desks? Come on!! That's just going a little over board. If they wanna pray and anoint stuff let them do it on their own time and on their own things. Not things that belong to the community! And you can bet your ass if "we" did something like this in one of our own classrooms there would be hell to pay after. Not just a little news article on the incident.
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Well, there's actually a very good reason behind everyone getting all up in arms about the tests. I actually completely understand why they choose to go to such extreme measures.
These tests are one of the things considered when the gov't gets ready to hand out grant money to the various school districts.... not to mention private donations and such. If the students don't fare well on the tests then the schools will more than likely to get less money... and since our lovely gov't is giving less and less to education each year, the schools want to do all they can to prove that they deserve more money than the school next door.
Seriously... I'm not at all bothered by the prayer service.... they should've just cleaned up after themselves.
"Lucifer always has reasons for doing what He does. He rarely explains. His intentions are only malevolent toward malicious people..."-JOB: A Comedy of Justice "So powerful is the light of unity that it can illuminate the whole earth."-Baha u llah Active member since December, 2001
Posts: 997 | Location: Streamin' Tunes from the home of the 101st! | Registered: April 05, 2006
That makes sense, Bam. I never thought of it that way. I knew that they gave grants to school that done well on the test but I guess I failed to look at it from that perspective while reading that post. But, I still don't think that they should have anointed the desks with oil. In christianity they don't clean up the oil after an anointing. It's suppose to stay there. At least that's the way I was taught. So, while knowing this, why would they do still do that? I just think they could've went about it a better way. Maybe anoint a different part of the desk? A place that wouldn't have been so obvious.
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Completely agreed... They should've found a different way to do it.
"Lucifer always has reasons for doing what He does. He rarely explains. His intentions are only malevolent toward malicious people..."-JOB: A Comedy of Justice "So powerful is the light of unity that it can illuminate the whole earth."-Baha u llah Active member since December, 2001
Posts: 997 | Location: Streamin' Tunes from the home of the 101st! | Registered: April 05, 2006
how sad, really. they just wanted to help. i agree if a pentagram had been left on the desks, all involved would've lost their jobs but they meant no harm so why should they have to face such anger and criticism? it's just going too far. i don't appreciate christianity being shoved down my throat but i wouldn't have considered what they did as a means to force me, or anyone else, to believe as they do.
Originally posted by Bam: These tests are one of the things considered when the gov't gets ready to hand out grant money to the various school districts.... not to mention private donations and such. If the students don't fare well on the tests then the schools will more than likely to get less money... and since our lovely gov't is giving less and less to education each year, the schools want to do all they can to prove that they deserve more money than the school next door.
Good point. And its debatable both ways. I've seen a school in our city (in FLA) that was in the poorest area of town go from an "F" rating to a "B" in a year.
I would like to just give a good aspect of the test. When my daughter was in 3rd grade and took the FCAT a red flag was raised because her grades came back extraordinarily high. The school board (with our involvement) began testing her and turns out she is "Gifted". Contrary to some beliefs, there are very important issues that need to be addressed for gifted students. Thank goodness I researched it. But anyways, its also a diagnosis tool to see how a child is progressing. Imagine if someone has a learning disability and its going undiagnosed. Goodness knows many of our schools need to do better.
My point is, I think its been a good tool and the educators should focus on teaching our students better.
This is smack dab in my neck of the woods (pun intended) Its not often that I disagree with the ACLU, but I don't think there's anything wrong with any school staff doing a little after school blessings among themselves using props. It shows they care. Of course, it may also show just how far the teachers are willing to go to help the kids do well so they get their FCAT-tied bonus!! /sarcastic
I agree that the negativity would've been 100 times more if it had been found that the residue was from any other religious group.
Regarding the FCAT- a fair idea gone bad. 1) private school kids don't take it so as a measuring tool of students, its meaningless. 2) I still can't see my sons test results without a court order. 3) how do the teachers know how to fix things for struggling kids if they can't see test results either 4) MONEY should've NEVER been the motivator for schools to get A ratings 5) if anything, the schools with the lowest ratings need money and attention the most, not the highest rated. 6) this test is just that and should NEVER be the total focus of school curriculum.
Posts: 4642 | Location: Home on the (Florida) Range near Tampa | Registered: April 05, 2006
Regarding the FCAT- a fair idea gone bad. 1) private school kids don't take it so as a measuring tool of students, its meaningless. 2) I still can't see my sons test results without a court order. 3) how do the teachers know how to fix things for struggling kids if they can't see test results either
Why in the world are they not giving you the results of the test? I can't understand this. Every year my daughters were mailed to us.
I have mixed feelings about the teachers having the results of the tests. I'm just not sure they should have the individual results. As difficult as it is for teachers, I think all children need to excel, even if they are doing good on the tests. I think the school board should address it if a child does not do well on the test; and with the teachers and parents. It just goes to show how difficult it is to teach and learn in our public school system.
/sarcastic