Bruce Vento Elementary School in St. Paul, Minnesota is no longer celebrating Valentine’s Day. Nor will they celebrate Halloween, Thanksgiving or Christmas. The principal of the school made this decision, in recognition of the ethnic and cultural diversity at the school. At least one far right wing website reported that the entire state of Minnesota had banned all of these holidays due to complaints from Muslims. The website cited this as yet another reason why parents should “get their kids out of government run schools.”
That report is entirely fake news. It was not the entire state of Minnesota, nor even one school district. It was one school. There was no mention of Muslims, or complaints from anyone. It was just a decision that the principal made.
The Dawg expects that V-Day is being widely recognized today from Texarkana to El Paso. A Texas school would be on shaky ground if it tried to eliminate recognition of some of these holidays. The TEKS for 2nd grade call for the student to “explain the significance of various community, state, and national celebrations such as….Thanksgiving.” 19 T.A.C. 113.13(b)(1)(A). Christmas comes up in the TEKS for 6th grade. The sixth grader is expected to be able to explain the “significance of religious holidays and observances such as Christmas, Easter…..” 19 T.A.C. 1113.18(b)(19)(B).
I don’t think the TEKS references V-Day specifically. It if did, perhaps it would read like this:
The student understands that the custom of giving cards to others at Valentine’s Day is not an excuse to justify vulgar language or sexual innuendo.
The student can explain why True Love flows in both directions equally, but the money spent at Valentine’s Day flows mostly from men to women.
The student understands that not getting a Valentine’s Day card from That Particular Person does not mean that the student is a loser, destined to live a life of lonely desperation, darning socks in the night when no one is there.
I think that should do.
DAWG BONE: ALL THE LONELY PEOPLE….WHERE DO THEY ALL COME FROM?
Tomorrow: Restricting parental access…