Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Jesus the reason for the Suspension


Maxham Elementary School Student’s depiction of Jesus on the Cross which got him suspended from school

A Taunton father is outraged after his 8-year-old son was sent home from school and required to undergo a psychological evaluation after drawing a stick-figure picture of Jesus Christ on the cross.—Gerry Tuoti
In the spirit of Christmas officials at Lowell M Maxham Elementary School In Taunton Massachusetts apparently believe that Jesus’ death on the cross was violent. Apparently they also believe that someone should be punished for it.

So after a 2nd grade teacher asked student’s in class to sketch something that reminded them of Christmas one little 8-year-old boy responded by sketching a picture of Jesus’ death on the Cross as what he was reminded of when he thought of Christmas. (see picture above) (see story)

Maxham School principal Rebecca Couet and the 2nd grade teacher, whose name is being withheld, thought the stick figure depiction of Christ’s death on the cross was violent so they suspended the little 8-year-old student for three days and ordered him to submit to a psychological evaluation. Apparently these officials missed Mel Gibson’s 2004 movie The Passion of the Christ.

For those of you, Readers, who see this as yet another example of teachers and school administrators Gone Wild you might consider doing something about this blatant encroachment on freedom of thought.

Yes it is an obvious attack on religion and freedom of expression too. But the insidious act of ordering a psychological evaluation goes directly to controlling thought.

Maxham Elementary School is a K-4 public school serving 219 students with 15 Teachers, two teachers are 2nd Grade teachers.

Superintendent Julie Hackett speaking for the school said, “Generally speaking, we have safety protocols in place. If a situation warrants it, we ask for outside safety evaluations if we have particular concerns about a child’s safety. We followed all the protocols in our system.” (Taunton Public Schools)


Since the good people of Massachusetts are treating Christianity like it is a foreign cultural expression of which they know absolutely nothing about. Perhaps the people of Massachusetts at large and the Taunton Public Schools specifically need some sensitivity training. This kind of ignorance about cultural beliefs can not be tolerated. And it hasn’t been in the past.

What should be recommended to all of the school administrators involved, in the traumatizing of this little 2nd grade boy, is some culture sensitively training for school officials who apparently need to learn about the foreign American cultural religion Christianity.

And in addition Christianity should be taught in the Massachusetts schools as the apparent foreign culture that it has become. This is so that when teachers come across the word or name Jesus or a picture of Jesus on a cross or a bible they won’t be so confused or confuse these references with potential violence rather then the depicting of a biblical events that occurred over 2,000 years ago.

Also, you, Reader, might call Superintendent Julie Hackett and suggest sensitivity training regarding the ignorance in her school system regarding the cultural belief Christianity. This training is needed for the entire school system.

I’m sure you’ll agree that sensitivity training is warranted for the Massachusetts schools system so that no other American child will be traumatized for their cultural beliefs by an over-reacting government school system and authorities within that system.

3 comments:

  1. What is your response to the school's official response to the allegations? Clarity & truth is important. http://www.tauntonschools.org/news.cfm?story=2760&school=580

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  2. pBob first thank you for bringing this response to my attention.

    If clarity and truth are important to you, then I pray you don't think that you got it in the school's official response to the allegations.

    Did the school clarify why the student was required to undergo Psych eval?

    Did the school present another picture so that the general public would understand why the student was asked not to return to school until the following Monday? Even if it was not a formal suspension, according to the original report, it was understood that the student couldn't return to school until his parents submitted the child to the eval. The response seems to confirm that the child did undergo the eval.

    My point is simply this, the school's response seem to me to be an exercise in damage control rather than an effort to bring truth.

    I have worked as an administrator in the public school system and it is my judgement that this principal's statement is something to hide behind and as stated it was not intended bring clarity.

    On another note, A friend of mine just shared a book of Frank Lloyd Wright's work with me and I was absolutely captivated by the uses of space, light and material.

    Then he shared the book Frank Lloyd Wright: America's greatest architect by Herbert Austin Jacobs and likewise I was fascinated by Wright's story. An amazing man in my opinion.

    Back to my point. While I have very little trust for MSM I have equal to little regard for well crafted public relations statements that are meant to create doubt it the original report without really telling the public what the truth is.

    This is how I understand the official response.

    How about you?

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  3. Anonymous5:24 PM

    Wow! Well said! I'm with you, if the school has these claims about their feared sickness of this 8 yr. old boy's "Jesus died on a cross and to me that's what Christmas is all about" picture... shouldn't they have SOMETHING to say when Dad defends his son's picture? Especially with such an outrage that seems to be place here. As this Dad said, they called him, they accused him, they required a psych eval!! How can they have the NERVE to claim they need not reply about the diff on the pics? And that's just for starters.
    How about his right to express himself when asked to express himself? Yes, he was ASKED to express hiself about what Christmas mean to him! That treatment was torturous in my humble opinion.
    Just a mom of three boys myself, one being 8!

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