Carols OKd on school buses

Christmas carols and other kinds of music will again be played on a Gurnee-area school district's buses after a short-lived ban gave new meaning to the "Silent Night" season.

At a special meeting Wednesday night, the Woodland School District 50 board told Supt. Dennis Conti to allow radio music on the buses again. The decision brought applause from audience members, who had packed the board room. Some began singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas."

Conti said he was disappointed that the board did not support his ban, which he contended was a matter of safety, not Christmas music.

Sandra Hartogh, a parent who threatened to sue the school district, said she was thrilled by the board's decision.

"I'm glad the kids have their music back. There's no need to go further," she said.

The ban was launched after a pupil had a disagreement with a bus driver over Christianity after Christmas music was heard on the bus. The child was offended by the driver's comments, Conti said.

The pupil's father called school officials to complain, and Conti said he realized for the first time that radio music was being played on buses. He said he decided that the radios should be turned off for safety reasons so bus drivers could hear students or emergency vehicles.

"To me, it didn't make any difference whether it was Christmas music or rock 'n' roll," Conti said.

Lisa Bixler of Gurnee, who has an 11-year-old son in school, said she was surprised that Christmas music could offend someone.

Bixler, a bus driver for another school district, said music can be an effective way to get children to be quiet during the ride.

This was the second time in the last week that parents criticized a school district for removing Christmas-related cheer. At Spring Grove Elementary School in McHenry County, pupils sang holiday songs at a celebration last week without mentioning Christ or the Christmas story.

That prompted a parent and a Chicago lawyer associated with the non-profit Alliance Defense Fund to say the school's concerts diminished Christmas by unfairly censoring Christian references.

The lawyer, Andy Norman, sent letters last month to about 350 school districts in the Chicago area informing superintendents that legal precedents "allow and sometimes require officials to permit religious expression in public schools."

Norman also took on the Woodland District, on behalf of Hartogh and her husband, Kenneth, to argue that music, including Christmas carols, "will serve legitimate secular purposes of educating and entertaining" students, according to a letter he wrote to the district.

"Your order that no Christmas carols may be played . . . constitutes an illegal suppression of the rights of our clients' children under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution," he wrote to school officials.

"It also reflects illegal hostility directed against Christianity," he wrote.

The Woodland ban prompted complaints from parents who questioned the censoring of "Jingle Bells," "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and other Christmas songs.

"It was not like they were playing Handel's `Messiah,'" said Hartogh, who has three children in the district. "Quite frankly, I would rather my children listen to music that has some kind of value to it, regardless of religion, rather than rap music."

Hartogh questioned the timing of the music ban, saying, "Why after all these years of playing the radios have they decided it's a safety issue?"

Her 6th-grade daughter, Victoria, said the rule was confusing.

"It's weird because in our classroom, our teacher lets us listen to Christmas music and Hanukkah music," she said. "What is the difference if you are playing it in the classroom? Why can't you play it on the bus?"

Bus driver Mindy Carlino of Grayslake said the drivers were told Friday not to play holiday music.

On Wednesday morning, an announcement was made over the dispatch radio system that Christmas music was banned, she said.

Later in the afternoon, another announcement told drivers that radios should be turned off.

"It was just shocking. What? No Christmas music? What about `Frosty the Snowman?'" said Carlino, who has two children in the district and drives a bus for special-education pupils. "The music calms kids down. We keep it soft."

I am so pleased to announce THIS IS MY SCHOOL DISTRICT!
My Greatkids attend there, ride the buses, and have
decent teachers. My grandchildren and their parents
have all attended Woodland. It is OUR school! Mr. COnti
is the outsider. This year there were NO religious songs
sung at the kids' Holiday Choir Concert. It was nice,
but the community KNEW what was going on. THe Choir Director had been told NOT to schedule the traditional
Carols. It is my understanding that due to a huge goof-up occurring two years ago, Mr. Conti is scheduled
to LEAVE Dist. 50 at then end of THIS YEAR!

I'm also pleased the teachers are playing traditional
Holiday songs for the kids in the classrooms. Our little
pre-schooler has learned the Pledge of Allegiance ith "under
God" included. We're a mixed community here re. political
leanings, but even our most ardent Democrats are adamant about keeping our traditions in tact for our little ones.

BTW, if you didn't catch Hannity & Colmes in CA last night...you missed a good show. A huge audience interacted
with the guests, pro and con God in the classroom. The
hosts H&C did a fairly good job of it, with Colmes stating
emphatically that though he's a liberal, he's NOT in favor
of supporting all this ACLU claptrap! The problem with
the show was the overtalking; much of what was vehemently
said was lost in the fusion of voices.

He said he decided that the radios should be turned off for safety reasons so bus drivers could hear students or emergency vehicles.

ROTFL!! Hear the students? Has this man ridden a school bus lately? You can hear some students 100' AWAY from the bus. I don't think any radio that a driver might have will drown out the students. As for emergency vehicles; that's why they have blinking lights! Bus drivers are continually checking their mirrors to watch for idjit drivers trying to get around them, so they'd see any police, firemen or ambulances pretty quickly.

Good for the parents supporting the bus driver! Jeers to the parents of the 'offended' student. Some folks haven't learned to tell their kids to 'suck it up' when it comes to trivial things, and this is about as trivial as it gets!

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