Letters to the Editors

Now Patience Nave must make amends

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 4, 2001

Editor: The School Board met Feb. 27 with this agenda:

(1) proper scheduling of extra-curricular activities, and

(2) School Board invocations.

Instead, we witnessed a revival meeting for Jesus Christ. Last year a new board member, Carol Snyder, a Catholic, asked that the invocation and extra-curricular activities be re-examined to make sure we were following legal and equitable procedures. The board members, all Christians, were drawn into a political tangle as a result when Chairwoman Patience Nave chose to avoid resolving the question quickly and simply.

Instead, she scheduled a meeting on Feb. 27 "to hear from the people." When the board was polled by newspapers, Mrs. Nave clearly held the majority vote for her position, but she persisted in her plan as her religious supporters and the FCA made their plans to pack the meeting. In control of the proceedings, Mrs. Nave arranged speakers, not on a normal first-come, first-served basis, but by her private preferences. Most early speakers favored her position, and the FCA members spoke first.

The rally provided young people an opportunity to praise Jesus Christ and to express an emotional fear (however misguided) that our board was on the verge of removing God from our schools. Each sincere student speaker fervently testified a commitment to Jesus Christ, and many begged the School Board not to deny God. How sad. It was a non-issue, a political power game orchestrated by Mrs. Nave to intimidate any dissent from other Christians on the board.

The board meeting ended as it began, in limbo, without an official vote on the issues. It is unfortunate that Mrs. Nave brought schoolchildren in to support her position, but she can now make amends to those children.

I challenge Mrs. Nave to commit herself to Jesus Christ, as the children have done. The only way she can do that is to place her trust in God, vote on the issues, and make our Citrus County School Board's position official.
-- Lee Cloward, Inverness

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