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Righteous posturing blinds commission to its own hypocrisy

By SUE CARLTON
Published October 9, 2006

Bill O'Reilly tried to set us straight on this once already, but apparently we didn't learn our lesson.

Maybe we'll get it right this time.

Yet again, if you believe some Hillsborough County commissioners, some school officials may decide to try to rip religion from our children. They would do this through changes to the school calendar that would include eliminating Good Friday as an official day off.

"Erosions," was how Commissioner Jim Norman put it at a meeting last week.

To make his point, Norman cited morals, our forefathers, the danger of losing God in the Pledge of Allegiance, and puppies. Okay, not really on the puppies.

"I've got to tell you," Norman said. "When we start losing those values, I don't know if I want to be here."

"Amen," intoned Commissioner Brian Blair. (Blair, after all, brought the whole thing up and did not deserve to be out-pontificated.)

All this might have been funny if that kind of if-you-don't-agree-you're-against-God talk wasn't so dangerous. Even when it's ridiculous, off-point and irrelevant, history shows it can still pack the house.

Here's what got commissioners into this most recent fever pitch. The Hillsborough School Board and the superintendent again are expected to consider taking Good Friday, Yom Kippur and the day after Easter off the calendar as vacation days beginning in the 2007-2008 school year.

The recommendation to do this came from a committee of students, parents and school employees. The committee was well aware of the potential for controversy but concentrated on academic matters.

Because of the new law that says school can't start any earlier than two weeks before Labor Day, the FCAT would be pushed back and given during a testing period that would include Good Friday 2008.

IMPORTANT FACT REGARDING THE PROPOSED CALENDAR CHANGES: The School Board is not secretly plotting to make children leave the Christmas tree behind on the morning of Dec. 25 to slog to school instead. Also, they are not planning final exams for Easter Sunday.

Most important, the school district is not trying to tell people they can't observe the religion of their choice.

Students can miss school for religious holidays without penalty. Principals are given dates of religious holidays so that big tests, field trips and important events such as the prom can be planned around them.

So a secular calendar seems fair enough.

But the County Commission, which apparently has too little actual county business to worry about, wrung hands and voted 5-1 last week to send a letter to the School Board expressing dissent over any such change.

"Never before in the history of America have so few hurt so many," Blair said, after observing that Christmas break is often referred to as winter break these days. (Never before? Not in, say, slavery? Denying women the right to vote? Jim Crow laws? Japanese-Americans held in internment camps?)

Commissioners also invoked the white crosses of Arlington cemetery (now who's going to argue against that?) and, I'm not making this up, the scourge that is United Nations Day. Cheap shots all, none of which had anything to do with anything. And forget that pesky separation of church and state stuff.

By the way, one itty-bitty detail about this year's flap:

On the same day as they were riding that wave of righteousness, the commission also approved a calendar that did not give their own county employees Good Friday off.

Apparently there is less concern for those souls, or for employees who must find child care when their kids have the day off and they don't.

Anyway, the commission's opinion is no big deal since it's all up to school officials, right?

Oh, but let's not forget last year, when Blair and Commissioner Ronda Storms turned this into a national crusade on The O'Reilly Factor. The School Board did an about-face and killed the calendar changes.

"They teach history in school," Commissioner Blair said. "And I believe last year a history lesson was taught."

That at least was well said. From history, maybe we can learn that this kind of political posturing has no place in school.

Sue Carlton can be reached at carlton@sptimes.com.

[Last modified October 9, 2006, 01:25:38]