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The craziest Christmas ban
There were so many odd stories last month about Christmas in the public square that it might be hard to find one as emblematic. Denver's debates over substituting "Merry Christmas" with "Happy Holidays" on the capitol lawn and excluding a church's float from the Parade of Lights were probably the biggest controversy, but they certainly weren't the wackiest. Comparatively speaking, it was pretty boring—Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper backed off the sign change plan, and the church float will return next year.

No, the oddest December Dilemma story of the year has to be the case of seventh-grader Bryan Lafond. It's hardly precedent-setting, and doesn't have much broad applicability, but it sure is odd. The student at Hampton Academy Junior High went to his holiday "dress-up dance" in a Santa Claus costume, but Principal Fred Muscara wouldn't let him in.

"It was a holiday party. It was not a Christmas party," Muscara explained. "There is a separation of church and state. We have a lot of students that go to Hampton Academy Junior High that have different religions. We have to be sensitive to that."

The Lafonds are tired of the publicity the incident has brought, but the controversy continues. Not over separation of church and state, but over safety—a school shouldn't just boot a 12-year-old out into the cold darkness outside just because he's wearing red.

As for the church-state angle, Leslie Lafond notes, "He didn't go as Baby Jesus." But even if he had, the school would have been violating the First Amendment if it kicked him out for wearing it out of fear that he'd offend non-Christian students. As Clinton Education Secretary Richard Riley told educators in a 1998 letter, "Students generally have no Federal right to be exempted from religiously-neutral and generally applicable school dress rules based on their religious beliefs or practices; however, schools may not single out religious attire in general, or attire of a particular religion, for prohibition or regulation. Students may display religious messages on items of clothing to the same extent that they are permitted to display other comparable messages. Religious messages may not be singled out for suppression, but rather are subject to the same rules as generally apply to comparable messages."

It's worth noting, however, that if Lafond had gone as the baby Jesus, it probably wouldn't have been non-Christians he would have had to worry about offending.

Note
All tsunami-related stories are being covered in a separate weblog this week.

Education:

• Bethune-Cookman College goddess statue deemed inappropriate | The pink and green Alpha Kappa Alpha statue which stood outside White Hall for 31 years has been removed because of its exposed breast (Daytona News-Journal, Fla.)
• Dover teachers may present evolution alternative | Biology teachers in the Dover Area School District may begin reading a four-paragraph statement offering an alternative to the theory of evolution, since attorneys for parents who objected to the policy decided not to seek a restraining order by yesterday's deadline (The Patriot-News, Harrisburg, Pa.)
• U.S. school district defends evolution teaching plan | A Pennsylvania school district on Wednesday rejected charges that plans to include references to an alternative to Darwin's theory of evolution in high school biology classes would be illegal (Reuters)
• Critic says Albuquerque Public Schools kids get false sex-ed information | A nonprofit group giving "abstinence-only" workshops in Albuquerque schools is spreading false information and its curriculum threatens the health of students, a school board member said Wednesday (The Albuquerque Journal, N.M.)

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January (Web-only) 2005, Vol. 49