A few months ago I posted about a school librarian reading a book to my 5 year old's kindergarden class called "What Does Heaven Look like." This was after a classmate died. I happened to be in the room at the time, notified the principal, and the reading was stopped.

Yesterday, my 5 year old told me that the librarian read a book about Jesus. He was telling me the librarian explained how Jesus died and came back a few days later to "save" us. Jaw dropping. He also made the observation that "it's kind of crazy" to say someone died and came back and that he "didn't think Jesus was real." Me likey.

I've never discussed Jesus with him. But, on the spot I said remember how we were talking about how some parents lie to their kids about Santa and I don't know why? People do the same thing about Jesus. They make up lies about what Jesus did and tell their kids that. I'm thinking that's good I had previously told him the truth about Santa.

I don't know if the librarian can get off the hook because she could have just been talking about a holiday.

Do I have a legitimate complaint?

Yup. Complain to the principal again. I would ask him if you need to take this to the board, or if he can solve it himself. I'm betting that he can.

You definitely have a legitimate complaint. I think you should complain to the principal again (even though the problem wasn't fixed the first time), as well as send in a complaint to the superintendent. Religion is never an appropriate topic in schools, even around the holidays. Most professional teachers in Utah would agree.

The next thing I think you should do is to send a letter to Paul Rolly. When I was a public educator I found instances of teachers and principals who were too religious to be professional and it was uncomfortable for others. The principal, for example, was forwarding religious spam mail to the teachers. Every time something like that happened I would document it and send it to him and more often than not after investigating a little bit he would publish the stories. Each time it was published someone would get in trouble and the behavior stopped. All in all it was pretty effective.

Also, your kid is a rockstar. I loved his response.

Good suggestions from you and Summer. I did record my son explaining the entire thing. I'm not expecting to share it, but it is funny.

I liked his response too. But, it could change so fast, imo. I've avoided any religious talk with him, but after this I've decided its time. I may be able to stop this librarian, but its going to be coming at him from so many directions. I was looking for some books on comparative religion for children. I didn't find anything that looked real appealing. So, I ordered a book on Greek mythology. He might enjoy the stories and I can start talking with him about people's ideas about gods.

I don't see any way to avoid the topic, though I'd like to.

My favorite book for kids is called In the Beginning. It is a beautifully illustrated book highlighting creation myth from all over the world. My boys loved it.

Also,I used to try and avoid all religion too, but then I realized they are going to be exposed no matter what so better objectively from me than propped up as truth from someone else...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/16/2013 11:27PM by Queen of Denial.

snb Wrote:
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> Religion is never an appropriate topic in schools, even around the holidays.

It can be appropriate if it's part of the curriculum. For younger children it might be learning about holidays and for older children it might be learning about various customs and beliefs. You can teach *about* religion but not promote religion. There's a world of difference between, "Christians celebrate Christmas" and "Jesus died for our sins."

I definitely painted with a bit too broad of a brush. I was talking more about personal religion and Jesus dying for sins, not the idea of religion in general. Good point. In fact, I taught a lot about religion and culture, and while I never mentioned Jesus (it just never came up), I did talk occasionally about the role of the virgin Mary in many cultures. I'm not sure if that is the same thing, but that is how it went.

Write your protest on paper and mention you wish to discuss the matter immediately.

Send it certified mail to the Principal. CC the school board or school superintendent, and cc your personal lawyer.

Always put everything down on paper. Visits. Conversations. The date, time, etc.

Paper paper paper. And when you CC a higher-up-the-foodchain you always get better results. Count me as another that thinks this was out of line.

It might cost you about $50 bucks, but if it is a constant problem, it might be worth getting a letter sent to the school, by a lawyer, with his credentials displayed across the top. Then after the principle and superintendent get done changing their pants, something might get done about the librarian once and for all.

I was thinking of staging a protest in front of the school. Hold a press conference. Be outrageous. Eventual make my way to the Bill O'Reilly show where I would begin speaking in tongues half-way thru the interview.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/17/2013 03:40PM by thingsithink.

Back when we lived in Salt Lake my son had a similar experience at High School. One day they had a substitute teacher - a guy that had been a teacher at the school and retired. He was also doing one of those stay at home missions. Well, he forgot he wasn't a missionary that day. It was a math class, someone asked a question and the substitute's answer wound around to talking about Moism. My son told me and was laughing about it. He said one of his friends had the same substitute that day, and the substitute went even further preaching Moism in that class.

I sent an email to the principal, whose reply was something like "oh my, thanks for letting me know. I'll see that it doesn't happen again." That was good enough for me. But stuff like that was just one more reason I was glad to get my kids out of Utah.