Happy holidays, Chelmsford kids! (Just leave the Santas and can...

[Byam Parent Chelmsford]

Byam District Parent wrote:

As a resident of Chelmsford who has had over a decade of years dealing with the Byam School, I must say that most of them were pleasant and positive. But every year, this time of year, there was a period in which intolerance and closed mindedness reigned in abundance. The subject of the “Holiday Season”(as all who entered were trained to call it, for the word “Christmas” was spoken only in whispers and behind closed doors), was an ongoing, underlying controversy, and a longtime hot spot churning and simmering like a sleeping volcano. Within the building, parents, teachers and children grudgingly but quietly “obeyed the rules” and left their comments, opinions, and frustrations to fester and boil outside of the school doors in homes, stores, and parking lots. Many genuine and valid attempts to bring this topic to light were respectfully and gingerly gestured, only to have them rejected by a determined and dismissive Principal wearing blinders in an effort to not see the elephant in the red suit standing in the room. Voices were silenced, hands were tied, thus to accuse the PTO or the teachers for setting the holiday guidelines is not at all fair or accurate for most disagree, but were “influenced” to be obedient. It was hence etc....

You have hit the nail on the head! Thank you for taking the time to write your thoughts....I hope that everyone takes the time to read it. Maybe you will open the opens of those who are blind and hopefully there will be some educated changes made! Kudos to you and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

[Merry Christmas]

What is interesting is that public schools get to make these uneducated decisions that are outside their scope of their job responsibility and their salary is paid with your tax dollars. In addition the public just accepts it and says “Well I guess they have a good reason to tell my child NO CHRISTMAS in a PUBLIC school. What bunch of dumb individual’s with there head in the sand.“MUST everything be political correct don’t you remember what it was like to be a child during this time?“ I have one simple statement to the individuals that made this stupid decision and those who support it. Jesus Christ is the reason for the season.(MERRY CHRISTMASS)

[UNCLE SAM]

Repeat after me Chelmsford SSSSS UUUU CCC KKKK SSSS

[quasi nation]

Chelmsford resident wrote:

Who's kidding who at Byam!!!! This has been a problem for years. It has taken until now for some brave women to stand up and speak out. I only regret I didn't open my mouth years ago. My kids all went to Byam and thought the whole "Gift Room" was a joke. This is all on Jane Gilmore. She runs the show over there and every single decision has to be "approved" by her. She is on the ultimate power trip. She has taken any and all joy not only out of the holidays but out of every day at Byam. Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!

I don't know this Jane Gilmore but from the sounds of the people and the people on this thread she has some deep rooted problems within herself. Well maybe it's time for her to be visited by the ghost of Christmas past, present and future!

[quasi nation]

Byam Parent Chelmsford wrote:

<quoted text>
It is not the teachers who want to ban Christmas, it is the administration! Teachers are doing what they are told to do by their boss! They do not necessarily condone what they are required to do. Most teachers embrace the holidays with children and feel badly when they can not wish a child a Merry Christmas because administration will come down on them. AND who said teachers demand 2 weeks vacation????? Get your facts straight!

I am sorry if in any of my posts did I blame a teacher I truly apologize I guess I don't know the entire story but reading this makes me wamt to cry I cannot believe that if you are heard wishing a child Merry Christmas
and embracing the event in whispers that the administration over there will come down on you...what the hell is wrong with them? It may not be an easy thing to do for some to relocate but I'll tell you I would find a secoond, third job to do it. This isn't a communist country (well it's not suppose to be anyway) God help us if you can get out of that city or at the very least 'the school'...please try you'll be sparing your child a future from receiving psychotherapy.

[Justin Case]

Don wrote:

lets really get their goat and cancel the day off make them go to school on December 25th see what happens then

No kidding, why would they take off holiday time if they don't believe in anything worth taking time off for ? These peeps in that town are Sickos

[Justin Case]

UNCLE SAM wrote:

Repeat after me Chelmsford SSSSS UUUU CCC KKKK SSSS

No kidding, I would move if I lived there..

[Byam District Parent]

Thank you "Byam School Parent" for your #284 response. You may want to read the 2nd draft of that letter in #'s 244 and 245. Several more important points were added. Teachers and parents may at times, have a token "say", but have no real "power" regarding decisions that have already been pre-determined, and this issue is indeed one of those times. However, it is unfortunate that some of the comments being made are so crude and vicious. We are not trying to crucify a person(pardon the use that religious word), but we are attempting to rectify an injustice forced upon us by yet another extreme example of PC. There is nothing wrong with "truth-based" sarcasm, but the spewing out of insults and lies is unacceptable, and hurts those of us who are trying to make a legitimate point. I realize that many people are "venting" about a subject that is so much bigger than just the Byam School, and it is probably long over due, but to exaggerate facts or to make totally absurd statements is not only ignorant, but discrediting to the validity of their arguments. It's justifiable to post true personal feelings, but it should to be done in a more believable and intelligent way. Political Correctness can go too far, but so can ignorance. Likewise it's necessary keep what is being presented as "facts" accurate and worthy of reading, otherwise
"extreme" comments will just be dismissed as unreasonable and not to be taken seriously.

[Hmmmm]

Thom wrote:

"have a look at the currancy you spend every day!! IN !!!!GOD!!! WE TRUST on every bill and evey coin in your pocket!!! "
First of all, the "under god" phrase wasn't added to the pledge or currency until the 50s. Second, given the separation of church and state enshrined in the first amendment, they shouldn't be there, but thats a battle no politician in this country has the integrity to fight.
At its heart, this is a Church/State issue. By having Christmas themed celebrations in a public school, the state is effectively endorsing a sectarian belief system. Yes they could try to include other religion's festivals, but that would soon deteriorate into absurdity given all the different religions practiced in this country, all the different sects within those religions, and all the different festivals of importance. Say I worship the Flying Spaghetti Monster and want our major holiday Noodlemas included in school celebrations, the state would have to oblige in order to organize Christian celebrations and remain constitutionally consistent. Imagine all the time and resources wasted.
A much better solution is to not have any organized celebrations of religious holidays in public schools. These school administrators are doing the right thing here. And its disappointing to see them demonized for standing up for the rights of the children that attend this school.
Another argument I've seen here that I have to say something about is this "Christian Nation" nonsense. Anyone who says this is a "Christian Nation" is ignorant of American history. Most of the founding fathers were in fact, not Christians, but Deists. The concept of church state separation was very important to their vision for this country given the history of ecclesiastical corruption in European politics at the time and the history of religious persecution that many colonists had fled.
The freedom that everyone here keeps emphasizing includes freedom of religion and freedom from religious coercion. The freedom to not have government forcing a narrow set of religious views down the throats of our youth.
"EVERYBODY has a right to celebrate WHAT they want WHEN they want WHERE they want, its called FREEDOM OF AMERICA"
No one is stopping anyone from celebrating Christmas in the way they want, all they are doing is refusing to have a state entity implicitly endorse any sectarian religious view or belief. You and your children can still celebrate Christmas to your hearts desire. But you cant force others to do the same. And having a public school throw these kinds of organized Christmas parties ultimately means forcing children who are not Christian to celebrate as well. Not only is that wrong, its expressly prohibited by the Constitution.

Thank you for being the voice of reason. Most responders here need to do a bit more research before spouting the misinformation they've somehow absorbed.
I'm a conservative-ish atheist who celebrates christmas traditions. I actually get a kick out of being sure to wish people Merry Christmas when they say 'happy holidays', because PC is annoying.Christmas, though, is a kid's holiday as far as I'm concerned, just like Easter and Halloween. I have no problem with it's celebration in school as long as it's presented in a way that lets the holiday stand by itself and doesn't promote your silly superstitions. Candy canes, Santa, christmas trees - OK. Saviors, ghosts, supernatural babies, mythical overseers - no f'ing way. Well, maybe for Halloween, but no way should the taxpayers be footing the bill for any mythology to be promoted as reality.

[Hmmmm]

Veritas wrote:

" isn't the only religion in the world..." this school is in America, not "the world", America founded on Judeo Christian principles,well documented for centuries in this country. Christmas is a federal holiday because a majority of Americans are christian. Democracy is about majority rule.Intolerence by ludicrous PC atheists , a minority is what we are seeing. Awful

You are very confused about what this country stands for and the principles it was founded upon. If you were correct, slavery would still be legal, as the majority would've voted to keep it. See how silly you are? Seperation of church and state - you may have heard of it. THAT'S why the founding fathers came here - to get away from a government forcing the views of the majority onto them. Your opinions place you squarely in the same corner as Islamists. Congrats!

[portly from chelmsford]

The founding fathers didn't come here, their families had been here for generations. And you have it backwards about the majority forcing their views onto the minority. It was in fact the other way around. The majority (citizens) wished not to be ruled by a minority (royal government).

The separation of church and state means that the government can not interfere with religion, it does not mean that churches can not participate in the government.

There seem also to be many misconceptions about freedom of speech. You have a right to voice your opinions and beliefs. You don't have the right to force them onto others or to silence others.

[Hmmmm]

portly from chelmsford wrote:

The founding fathers didn't come here, their families had been here for generations. And you have it backwards about the majority forcing their views onto the minority. It was in fact the other way around. The majority (citizens) wished not to be ruled by a minority (royal government).
The separation of church and state means that the government can not interfere with religion, it does not mean that churches can not participate in the government.
There seem also to be many misconceptions about freedom of speech. You have a right to voice your opinions and beliefs. You don't have the right to force them onto others or to silence others.

Silly semantics. Point being, the government and/or it's agents (schools in this case) have no business being in the religion business. No one is trying to censor what's said in churches; that's a totally different (and private) venue. All you 'believers' can go to your temples and mosques and handle serpents or whatever it is you do there. Different story when it comes to taxpayer dollars and presenting myth as facts to a captive audience too young to discriminate.

In this country, individual rights trump the twisted view of democracy espoused previously that says the majority has a right to force its' views upon the minority using the government as it's tool to do so. Is anyone really of the opinion that the government should be deciding how people should worship or not and should be showing favoritism to any particular sect? That's not only completely un-American, but stupid and selfish to boot. You wanna wish me a Merry Christmas? I appreciate that and wish you one back. You wanna start indoctinating my kid on my tax dollar, I got a big problem with that.

[Santa]

Merry Christmas! you linguine spined liberal massholes

[Grinch]

If the school dept want anyone's opinion, they'll be happy to provide it for them......

[lynne]

I am all for diversity, however we live in the United States have always celebrated Christmas and should be able to celebrate Christmas if you want other children should be able to bring in Santa Claus, or dreidels, or whatever it is that they celebrate this is getting to be ridiculous I will continue to say Merry Christmas if people don't like it sorry!!

[Hmmmm]

Right. People should be able to celebrate whatever they want. And they are. Kids in school should be able to wish others Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Hannukkah (sp), Joyful Eid, Glorius Spaghetti Monster Birthday, whatever. Teachers and administrators, as agents of the government, have a duty to show zero favoritism to any code of beliefs. The Spaghetti Monster must be treated with the same reverence as Yahweh or Allah, as all cults are equal in the eyes of the law, as they should be. You want to be free to follow your anachronistic beliefs, you also have to allow others to be just as free to follow theirs. Or you could go with the 'logic' of previous posters regarding 'majority rules' and have the schools teach Protestantism, since the majority of christians seem to belong to that sect. All the Catholics and Jews can just shut up and continue to help pay for the government to espouse veiws contrary to theirs, right? Great idea. Don't you people ever think things through a little bit? Oh wait...I forgot...you're 'believers'. Why think when you can just have faith huh?

[portly from chelmsford]

If the minority can't have its way then nobody can be happy? Is this what's being said? This is a stupid way to go about this. There's no tolerance in this. It solves nothing and in fact causes more trouble and division.

Its a Holiday Room for christ sake. Let them sell what people want to buy. If nobody wants Santas and candy canes then someone will be stuck with them after the Holiday Room (It was the Christmas Room when I went to Byam) closes.

Capitalism is the great equalizer. Let it work and it'll stop this minority/majority crap.

Merry Christmas !!! And to all a good night...

[Maggie]

The sad thing about this is the other elementary schools in Chelmsford have no such ban on Christmas items. What's wrong with the Byam? It's either all or none. And I agree with the person that wants all kids to boycott the shop. Let the PTO find out the hard way that being politically correct has gone too far.

[NoMoreMoney]

Yeah - No more money for Byam!

[sjs]

Typical liberal behavior; just celebrate all other religions and demonize this one. Stay classy.