Public school district supports segregated program for children of
church group
( Gannett News Service )
Administrators in Royal Oak, Mich., school district support a
proposal to establish a segregated public school program for the
children of a conservative religious group that urges its members
to shun technology.
The decision, on behalf of 22 students who would attend
Longfellow Elementary School, has angered a number of parents in
the district who claim it violates the constitutional separation of
church and state.
Members of the Plymouth Brethren Church fear that regular
classrooms, with their emphasis on technology such as computers and
television, would lead their children away from teachings of the
Bible, said Dave McCallum, a church member.
Under the proposal, the 22 children - who now are home schooled
- would enter Longfellow Elementary through separate doors and be
segregated from other students in class, and at lunch. The district
will also hire an instructor, not necessarily a member of the
church, to teach the special class.
Church members want separate classrooms "for the instruction and
well-being of our children in the face of the continuing decline in
moral judgment and values," McCallum wrote responding to questions
by The Detroit News.
McCallum didn't want to answer questions over the telephone.
The program, which initially was to have been implemented Jan.
23 in grades six to eight, prompted some parents to question how
school directors could have approved such an idea. School
administrators were approached by the church group in October. They
have scheduled a Jan. 4 meeting with parents to discuss the issue,
and will present the proposal to the local school board Jan. 11.
"You're opening a school for the technologically fearful?" said
Bob Dalton, a parent who objects to the program. "This to me is
unprecedented in public schools."
State education officials say the arrangement is not illegal as
long as religion classes are not taught, and it could become a
trend in public schools across the state.
"Governments more and more are becoming customer friendly," said
Michael Warren, an attorney for the state school board. "This is a
situation where a school district has lost 22 customers and has now
gained them back. Now the other customers are upset (but) I don't
think it's a legal issue."
McCallum said home-schooled church youth learn reading, writing,
math, English, cooking, sewing and crafts. The church wants this
curriculum at Longfellow as well, McCallum said.
Two things bother parent and PTA vice-president Sandy Wilkins:
the blurry distinction between separation of church and state
offered by the district and the length the district went to
accommodate the group.
"A lot of parents are ... wondering how they can keep the
separation if it's affiliated with the church," she said.
Administrators saw the program as a way to add the 22 new
students and about $160,000 in state funding to a school that is
steadily losing enrollment, said Supt. Francis Esch.
Current enrollment at Longfellow is 258 students, down from more
than 300 three years ago, said Principal Judi Juneau said. A
five-year projection has the school closing if it doesn't get more
students, she said.
Warren, the state board attorney, said many people misconstrue
separation of church and state as it relates to schools.
"There's a misperception that (schools) must purge any reference
or any accommodation of religious beliefs," Warren said. "It's
wrong for people to be taught religion with taxpayer dollars if
they don't believe in it.
"But there's no reason to disallow a Muslim who needs to pray
five times a day from praying. There should be a way to accommodate
them in a reasonable manner."
The state requires schools to provide a semester of civics and
offer health and gym classes, but parents can opt to keep their
children out of those, said Barb Atkins, supervisor of curriculum
in the state Education Department.
Nor do district administrators find fault with the arrangement.
"If we had a Spanish community that needed our help we would try
to accommodate them and I don't think there'd be as many
objections," Esch said.
The criticism has pushed a church that avoids the limelight to
center stage.
Plymouth Brethren believe in a simple existence, void of
technology. They also distance themselves from secular society. The
church, which has been in Royal Oak for 70 years, has its roots in
early-18th-century Germany. Members follow a strict doctrine of
temperance and a simple life, said the Rev. Douglas Gallager of the
Birmingham Unitarian Church.
McCallum said the 200 members in Royal Oak work in
manufacturing, construction, sales and service.
They use cars, electricity, modern plumbing and telephones because
they can't avoid them in today's society, McCallum said. But they
shun fax machines, television, videos, radios and satellites because
these "are some aspects (of technology) we can control."
Other ministers worry that the fact a religious group is making
the request is coloring the debate. "We are so caught up in a
theophobic society that we cannot see what's happening here," said
the Rev. Ronald E. Williams of the Warner Memorial Church of God in
Ferndale.
"The Bible says, `Come ye and separate yourself' and they take
that literally," Williams said. "This is not an unusual situation -
the Mennonites do it. The Amish do it. As far as I can see, it's not
a bad deal."
1/6/96 The Detroit News Editorial Page
Making the First Amendment Work
Royal Oak school administrators next week will propose a plan to the school board to provide what is in essence a separate curriculum for 22 pupils from a particular religious denomination. The administration should be commended for its willingness to accommodate pupils' religious views. But the proposal is still a bad idea.
The plan is to allow the pupils, members of the Plymouth Brethren Church, a group that shuns modern technology, to enter Royal Oak's Longfellow Elementary School by separate doors. The group would be segregated from other students in class and at lunch - and be taught in a technology-free setting.
Michael Warren, an attorney for the state Board of Education, says the plan does not violate the First Amendment's injunction against the establishment of religion by the state. Mr. Warren contends that the "establishment clause" has been overinterpreted - it does not require that schools "must purge any reference or accommodation of religious beliefs."
He's right. But that's not the case in this instance. It is true that government interference with the "free exercise" of religion is also prohibited by the First Amendment. An example of such a "free exercise" accommodation, Wayne State Law Professor Robert Sedler points out in a memo for the American Civil Liberties Union, would be excusing Muslim students from their classes so they could go to a separate room for one of their required daily prayers.
However, Prof. Sedler notes, the Royal Oak school district is not merely accommodating the pupils' individual freedom to practice religion within its regular curriculum.
Rather, it is basically creating a separate technology-free program for a limited number of students. The district is creating a precedent that has no discernable limits. If it creates a separate curriculum for these pupils, how can it turn down requests for other separate programs for other students?
Too many school districts and local governments have indeed trampled on the "free exercise" rights of students, but in this instance Royal Oak's administration has gone too far toward establishing a religion. These are difficult nuances, but their observance has kept the nation free.
The plan should be defeated.
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