Schools Claim Teachers Give a Balanced Look at Religion

A monthlong investigation by Ventura school officials into charges of religious insensitivity has concluded that teachers are doing a “balanced” job of representing a variety of faiths in classroom instruction and seasonal celebrations.

Officials of the Ventura Unified School District also concluded that the re-enactment of the Nativity by a Juanamaria Elementary School class in 1986 was an “isolated thing,” a standing-room-only crowd was told at a school board meeting Monday.

“I think our teachers do a fine job of presenting a balanced view,” Supt. John Gyves said, summing up the sentiments of a parade of teachers and principals who defended a district policy of allowing discussion of religion.

“I’m tempted to say that the charges are irresponsible,” he said during an interview.

The charges surfaced at a Feb. 8 meeting of the school district trustees when Dan Robbins, director of religious education at Ventura’s Temple Beth Torah, complained that a Juanamaria kindergarten class, which included a Jewish boy, had been instructed in 1986 to re-enact the Nativity scene, complete with references to “Jesus Christ, Our Lord” and a host of traditional Christmas carols.

He also relayed the complaints of Jewish parents who said their children were taught not only Christmas songs along the non-controversial lines of “Jingle Bells,” but also songs with explicit religious references.

Robbins suggested that the school district either end all religious references in classrooms or devote equal time to all of the world’s major faiths in teaching comparative religion.

Robbins said he was not satisfied with the report issued at Monday’s meeting.

“Most of those people were probably sincere,” he said Tuesday. “But religious minorities feel alienated when Christian programming comes into the schools.”

He said the board “didn’t address this issue.”

Robbins said that 10 to 15 Jewish families have complained to him of religious insensitivity in the schools during his 10 months as head of Temple Beth Torah’s education programs.

At Monday’s meeting, some parents expressed relief when trustees assured them that religion would continue to be a classroom topic.

“I’m very pleased,” said Mary Swaffar, a member of the Church of Latter-day Saints who said she had come to see that her two daughters’ “rights weren’t taken away by the Jewish church saying we can’t sing the Christmas carols that appear in state textbooks.”

Teachers and principals at the meeting pointed to the district’s “multicultural program” that touches on the traditions of many cultures--from Vietnamese to Mexican to black American.

Junipero Serra Elementary School teacher Myra Joes said she recently had shown her students a film entitled “Big Bird Goes to China” in celebration of the Chinese New Year. The film had gone over so well that one of her students later wrote that it made for the “happiest day in my life,” said the first- and second-grade teacher.

Joes said she stressed different approaches to religion in classroom instruction about Christian holidays. “We learn how Christmas is celebrated in Sweden, France, Hawaii and Israel,” she said.

Proud of Diversity

Juanamaria teacher Sylvia Mack said her school is proud of its ethnic diversity. “We even have a Jewish lady on staff,” she said.

Identifying herself as “the Jewish lady,” Juanamaria teacher Joan Alper said she makes herself available to Christian teachers who seek pointers for discussing Jewish holidays.

Several teachers mentioned showing students a menorah, a candelabra that is a traditional symbol of Judaism, and letting them play with a dreidel, a top spun at betting games during Hanukkah. And a music teacher pointed out that two of the five songs she teaches during the holiday season are Hanukkah songs.

“We try to . . . involve all different cultures” in classroom presentations, said Tom Carmody, principal at Junipero Serra.

Juanamaria Principal Gerald Dannenberg said the 1986 incident at his school was “an isolated thing that happened in the classroom and, once the teacher did it, she realized it was wrong and immediately regretted it.”

Frustration Told

Still, Robbins later expressed frustration over what he perceived as the district’s excessively limited discussion of Judaism. “There’s more to Judaism than lighting a menorah and playing a gambling game,” he said.

As for studying different ways of celebrating Christmas, Robbins said it did little to demonstrate religious diversity. “As a Jewish student, I could care a hoot about how Christmas is celebrated across the world,” he said.

Robbins complained that teachers and principals “lumped together culture and religion” in Monday’s discussion and failed to cite instances when district instruction reflected true religious diversity.

He noted that the discussion made no reference to three of the world’s major religions--Buddhism, Islam and Hinduism.

“It makes me wonder what does Mr. Gyves mean by a ‘multicultural program,’ ” he said.