Religion in the Classroom: How Teachers Tread the Tightrope

With children everywhere discussing the costumes and treats they expected for Halloween, it was natural enough that a teacher at Olinda Elementary School would assign her students to read a book themed to the holiday. But then a parent objected that Halloween was offensive to people of her faith.

The teacher turned to her principal, Brenda Clark, who resolved the problem by suggesting the child be assigned a different book.

That was the right solution, according to an expert on the role of religion in public schools.

The expert, Wayne Jacobson, gave a two-day seminar for Orange County educators this week on how to resolve delicate religious issues on campus. And from the number of questions, it was clear that the topic is coming up at schools throughout the county.

The Jewish teacher who wondered what to do about the student who wrote “Jesus saves” on his blackboard. The board member who several years ago proposed posting the Ten Commandments at each campus. The teacher who collected information about students’ religions.

Clark had successfully resolved the Halloween complaint. Now she had another question: What should she do when a student who attends Clark’s church comes up to her at school and asks her questions about Sunday’s sermon? Could Clark be accused of proselytizing if she answers the child’s questions?

Such discussions are fine, Jacobson said, as long as they are not in front of other students and the student and the principal don’t try to recruit others to attend the church.

“There is a lot of confusion about what can be talked about in school,” said Jacobson, a former evangelical pastor who now offers mediation to school districts facing conflict over religious issues. ‘No one has trained educators about religious liberty laws.”

Though he identifies himself as a conservative Christian, Jacobson said his goal is to help parents and teachers on both sides of the issue understand and adhere to the religious freedoms of the 1st Amendment. He uses a technique he calls “common ground thinking” to help groups form a consensus on policy even when they disagree on issues or values.

“I think this is the kind of thing that people need to hear,” said John Dean, Orange County’s superintendent of schools. The meeting was held at the county Department of Education offices in Costa Mesa.

Jeanne Flint, who serves on the Irvine school board, said she hoped to acquire “the tools to maneuver the waters of politics and religion without blowing up.” Such advice would be helpful, she said, in addressing a brewing battle over Woodbridge High School’s mascot, an Indian warrior, which has offended some Native American groups.

Defusing Problems Before They Explode

Ken Kegel, a Jewish board member in the Brea-Olinda district, said he wants to find a way to anticipate and defuse religious conflicts before they divide the community.

Kegel, who is also a teacher, said he was once threatened with a lawsuit after he asked a student to erase the words “Jesus saves” and a cross that the student had drawn on his classroom blackboard. Kegel said he asked the student to wipe it away because he was afraid other students would think he was trying to proselytize.

Other teachers said they had come because they wanted to find new ways to help students resolve racial and religious conflicts, which they said occasionally boiled into violence at lunchtime or after school.

Wendy Leece, a Christian school board member from the Newport Mesa Unified School District, said she came to the seminar because she wants to find a way to help students legally express their religious beliefs in public schools. Leece provoked a furor in her district a few years ago when she proposed posting the Ten Commandments on classroom walls.

“I feel that people of faith have been marginalized because of misunderstandings about the law,” Leece said. “I want to clarify those areas where religious freedom can be expressed.”

Jacobson responded that in some ways the law is very clear: Students may express their religious views in school by praying during lunch, by wearing religious T-shirts or head coverings, by distributing religious literature to their peers during lunch, but teachers and administrators may not.

Teachers may teach students about religious holidays but may not observe the holidays as religious events.

But, Kagel asked, what is a teacher who normally prays before eating to do if students ask him to sit with them during lunch?

Jacobson said the teacher could pray subtly, without involving students.

“What about a teacher who asked students what their faith is?” asked Lisa Cauley, a science teacher at Rancho Santa Margarita Middle School. She said she once substituted for a teacher who had collected such information on her students.

Jacobson warned teachers to be wary of asking students about their faith, although he noted that many teachers want to know such things to anticipate whether students will be absent on the Jewish holiday Rosh Hashana or hungry if they are fasting during the Muslim holiday of Ramadan.

“It’s so scary how these things make you watch what you say,” Cauley said. “You don’t know what’s OK and what’s not.”