No Satan Worship at This School

This year’s handbook for students at suburban Homewood-Flossmoor High School makes the rules clear: No running in the halls, no tardiness and no worshiping Satan.

Students in the affluent area south of Chicago say there seems to be little reason for concern.

“At our school the gang problem is just about as big as the occult problem. It’s insignificant, totally,” said senior Jonathan Rothberg, 16.

“It seems most kids are into expensive clothes and cars, not devil worship” said Erin Martin, also a senior.

School officials said the rule was included in this year’s Handbook to protect the students. Officials were told by neighboring districts and Chicago police at a recent seminar that interest in the occult is growing.

“We always try to be pre-active rather than reactive in our policy-making,” said Edward Rachford, superintendent at the school, which sends 78% of its 2,000 students on to college.

Last spring, school officials found two markings on lockers and one scuffed on a floor that resembled “an upside-down A in a circle,” a symbol of Satan worship, said Karen Rezny, director of student services.

According to the new policy, students may be suspended for “occult or occult-related activities,” placing such actions in the same category as “defiance of faculty authority” or “violation of school smoking rules.”