Sixth-Grader Penalized For Mentioning Jesus in His Christmas Paper at School
December 18, 2008SHattiesburg, MS – Eleven-year-old Andrew White wrote a poem about Christmas but received a deduction for writing about Jesus. His teacher, Latasha Atkins, insisted that mentioning Jesus was not allowed and asked him to write a new poem.
Andrew and his classmates were assigned a creative expression paper for the Winter Writer’s Board as part of his sixth-grade language class at Thames Elementary School in the Hattiesburg Public School District. He could choose among three topics, and he chose to write a poem about “what Christmas means to me.” After turning in his rough draft, Atkins circled the word “Jesus” and deducted one point from his grade. The teacher explained to Andrew that he was not allowed to mention Jesus at school and would need to rewrite the poem for his final draft without using the word “Jesus.” He attempted to rewrite the paper according to the teacher’s instructions. the rest
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posted by Pat Dague @ 10:17 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
This is my town; until recently I lived across the street from this school. The situation has been resolved, with Dr. Annie Wimbush, city superintendent, saying the teacher used poor judgment. Here is a paste from The Hattiesburg American, our local paper:
However, Hattiesburg has no policy against such religious expression, said Hattiesburg Schools Superintendent Annie Wimbish.
Atkins, Wimbish said, used poor judgment.
"This is her second year as a teacher. She was a teacher's assistant prior to this," Wimbish said. "In writing that e-mail she was obviously misinformed about the (district's) policy."
Wimbish said the district's policy allows students to write religious expressions or beliefs in homework, art or other assignments.
"Bottom line, we don't practice or preach any particular religion," Wimbish said. "We try to respect the many differences that we have. We have a very diverse population."
I've linked to your post in BlogWatch Education
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