Mom Goes to Bat for Son's 'Manger' Drawing in School's Holiday Display
by Jim Brown
December 17, 2003
(AgapePress) - A West Virginia public school has corrected an embarrassing case of viewpoint discrimination during Christmastime.A manger scene drawing by fourth-grader Matthew Bartlett was recently excluded from a holiday picture display to be viewed by parents attending Wednesday night's Christmas program at Flemington Elementary School. Although school officials laminated the picture, they told Matthew it could not be used in the display because it mighty offend someone.
Enter Matthew's mother, Vicky. "I wrote a letter to his teacher and principal, asking them to please reconsider displaying this picture during the Christmas program [and explaining] that Christmas means a lot of things to a lot of people, and Matthew has been taught that Christmas is the birth of Jesus," she says. "That's why we celebrate it."
In her letter, Mrs. Bartlett pointed out that Christ is just as important to Matthew as Santa is to many of his classmates. She also encouraged school officials to consult their own policies on the matter, just as she had done.
"[U]nder 'Philosophy' on page one of their handbook, it said that [the school deals] with each child individually to bring out their qualities and their values and their cultural background," she says. "So I put that in the letter -- and I asked them to do the same with Matthew concerning this."
After receiving Vicky's letter, school officials had a change of heart and decided to include Matthew's picture. Needless to say, Matthew was quite pleased.
His mother explains that he reported excitedly that his picture was among others on the walls in the school hallways. When she asked him what pictures the other children drew, he responded: "Santa and the reindeer -- but they put mine in a frame."
The school apparently still has some concerns about offending people. Students at Matthew's school celebrate on Wednesday by taking part in what the school terms a "Holiday" party and a "Winter" program.
