School principal bans Santa, Thanksgiving and Pledge of Allegiance

[zorgon]

School principal bans Santa, Thanksgiving and Pledge of Allegiance


http://nypost.com/2015/12/13/sensitive-principal-bans-santa-and-other-religious-symbols/

Santa Claus is banned. The Pledge of Allegiance is no longer recited. "Harvest festival" has replaced Thanksgiving, and "winter celebrations" substitute for Christmas parties.

New principal Eujin Jaela Kim has given PS 169 in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, a politically correct scrub-down, to the dismay of teachers and parents.

"We definitely can't say Christmas, nothing with Christmas on it, nothing with Santa," PTA president Mimi Ferrer said administrators told her. "No angels. We can't even have a star because it can represent a religious system, like the Star of David."

Kim, 33, did not return a call or email seeking comment.

A memo last month from assistant principal Jose Chaparro suggested a "harvest festival instead of Thanksgiving or a winter celebration instead of a Christmas party." He urged staff to "be sensitive of the diversity of our families. Not all children celebrate the same holidays."

Ninety-five percent of the 1,600 kids at PS 169 are Asian or Hispanic.

In a recent directive to all schools, the city Department of Education said it permits holiday symbols including Christmas trees, kinaras (candleholders for Kwanzaa), dreidels, Hanukkah menorahs and the Islamic star-and-crescent. Displays that "depict images of deities, religious figures or religious texts" are prohibited.

In a memo to staff this month, PS 169 business manager Johanna Bjorken added: "In case you are wondering about grey areas: Santa Claus is considered an 'other religious figure.' "

But a DOE spokesman told The Post that Santa is allowed as a secular figure.

Santa was a part of the holidays at PS 169 for years. Joseph Iorio, a longtime assistant principal and the acting principal who preceded Kim, recalled state Assemblyman Felix Ortiz visiting the school dressed as Santa "many times."

Iorio also said he tapped student leaders to lead the Pledge of Allegiance every Monday morning. When Kim arrived, the school-wide pledge ended.

?A DOE spokesman said classrooms can recite the pledge "at the teacher's discretion." But PS 169 teachers said that Kim never told them they could do so.

Kim has other wacky priorities, school sources say. Soon after joining PS 169 in May 2014, her first time as a principal, she ordered the faculty to clear their classrooms of "clutter." She moved hundreds of books and loads of supplies into the gym, where parents and other community members took what they wanted. The rest was tossed in the trash.

She also dumped boxes of newly purchased reading books in the basement because she preferred another curriculum, staffers said.

Kim bought seven 70- to 80-inch Sharp flat-screen smart TVs, which retail at about $3,000 each. After painting over and removing historic murals, she had the TVs mounted in the auditorium — three over the stage and two on each side.

"It was ridiculous," Ferrer said. "They have never been used."

Kim holds a lottery for students to get academic assistance after school or on Saturdays. She also started a "professional learning period" in which teachers observe each other in class, but it eliminates one period of core instruction a week for students, staffers said.?

??Kim recently told staff that Chancellor Carmen Fariña ?praised PS 169 at a town hall meeting.

http://nypost.com/2015/12/13/sensitive-principal-bans-santa-and-other-religious-symbols/

[zorgon]

Sanity wins: School tosses principal's ban on Santa, Pledge of Allegiance


Principal Eujin Jaela Kim had banned Santa at PS 169 in Brooklyn.

Sanity — and Santa — have been restored at a Brooklyn public elementary school where St. Nick was banned, the Pledge of Allegiance was dropped and Thanksgiving was replaced with a "harvest festival."

The good news arrived at PS 169 in Sunset Park on Monday morning, a day after The Post exposed the bizarre PC extremism of Principal Eujin Jaela Kim.

District 15 Superintendent Anita Skop stormed in the front door at 9:50 a.m., and minutes later, two fifth-grade boys were brought to the main office to lead a recital over the public address system of the Pledge of Allegiance, teachers told The Post.

As The Post reported on Sunday, the pledge hadn't been said over the loudspeakers since the beginning of the school year. Kim, 33, became principal in May 2014.

Santa Claus is now reinstated at the school, and Department of Education officials said on Monday that the Pledge of Allegiance will be recited over the PA system every morning, in response to concerns from the community.

"It never would have happened if The Post didn't do the story. That's the only way we got our voices heard," PTA president Mimi Ferrer said.

"I'm ecstatic that Santa can come back. Hopefully, he can make a visit to the kids in our school for our winter celebration on Thursday."

At a school leadership team meeting last week, Kim told staffers, "Do not celebrate Christmas, do not celebrate gift-gifting, do not celebrate Santa. We need to be respectful," according to a school source.

"Christmas is a Christian celebration and something that is tied to religion," Kim told them, according to the source.

DOE officials said on Monday that PS 169 administrators were mistaken in believing that Santa could not be used as a holiday symbol.

Only depictions of religious figures or texts are banned.

"We work to foster inclusive communities in our schools that welcome students and families, and celebrate the diverse values and traditions of all New Yorkers," DOE spokeswoman Devora Kaye said in a statement.

"This principal continues to work closely with her school community to ensure PS 169 is an inclusive school, meet students' and families' needs, and celebrate the values that make her community and New York City great," Kaye said.

Officials said the school emailed staffers new guidelines on Monday allowing the use of Santa Claus "as a holiday symbol with secular dimensions."

"I apologize for any confusion this may have caused," Kim wrote in the email.

http://nypost.com/2015/12/15/sanity-wins-out-school-brings-back-santa-and-the-pledge/

[zorgon]

Remove Eujin Jaela Kim as principal of PS169

We the people are seeking the removal of New York's principal Eujin Jaela Kim, to be replaced with someone who is qualified, able to perform the duties correctly, and believes in pledging allegiance to our great country of America.

Parents and the community have had issues with Eujin Kim since 2014. We feel Eujin Kim does not meet the criteria of 7 years full time teaching which is required of New York principal positions. We would like a investigation into how Eujin Kim was able to get thru the 7 years of full time teaching requirement.

The parents and community is tired of their concerns since 2014 being ignored. We would also like to see PS169's great legacy of traditions and celebrations brought back. We grow as a people by learning and embracing each other's cultures and beliefs, we gain nothing by being taught to banish other people's cultures and beliefs. We gain nothing by being ruled by a dictator. We gain nothing by banning the act of pledging allegiance to our great country known as America just as we do not gain anything by banning the reciting of Naturalization Oath of Allegiance to the United States of America. We are Americans, we embrace all our citizen's cultures and beliefs, we take pride in learning of our citizen's various cultures and beliefs, and we take pride in pledging allegiance to America. We do not teach our kids that pledging allegiance to America is a dishonorable thing to do, we teach them it is a thing of honor and pride.

https://www.change.org/p/dept-of-education-remove-eujin-jaela-kim-as-principle-of-ps169