MEET THE BAUMANN SCHOOL BUS DRIVERS
SCHOOLS
033097 Sides Drawn in Satanism Suit
By KATE STONE LOMBARDI
BEDFORD
DANGEROUS forces are at work in the school district here , but exactly what they
are depends on whom you ask.
To a small group of parents the threat comes from no less than the Devil
himself. The parents say that the school district has promoted satanic worship,
pagan religions and mind-control techniques. The families, devout Roman
Catholics, sued the district last fall, contending that heir children's civil
rights had been violated by exposure to teachings that force them to act against
their religious beliefs.
Other parents see the threat differently. They say the suit represents an
attempt by a handful of residents to impose their ideological views on the
entire community and say they that any success gained by the group suing the
district will have a chilling effect on academic freedom.
Earlier this month, a group of 15 parents asked Judge Charles L.Brient of
United States District White Plains for permission to file a friend-of-the-court
brief on behalf of the school district's motion to dismiss the case. The group
is resented by People for the Way, a civil liberties group based in Washington.
As members of the Bedford community, we must not and cannot let the biases of
individual parents determine the scope and the richness of the curriculum in our
schools," said Rose-Ellen Racanelli, a Bedford parent. " I am outraged that our
tax dollars, as well as the energy and time of our administration and staff,
will be spent on this frivolous, unjust lawsuit when they should be directed
toward providing the best education possible for our children."
Dr. Bruce Dennis, Superintendent of the Bedford schools, said the district had
spent about $50,000 on its defense and had budgeted more than $100,000 for the
case next year.
The three families who filed the suit against the Bedford School District last
fall are from Pound Ridge and have eight children among them. Their objections
to what they call "the Bedford Program" include not only the academic curriculum
but also extracurricular activities, guest speakers, teaching techniques and
field trips. Among the activities to which the plaintiffs objected were the
following.
-A third-grade class in which children were asked to make clay figures of a
Hindu deity and an Aztec god.
-A fourth-grade lesson on the history of Druid rituals.
-Several fifth-grade lessons on the Aztec culture, including their religious
rituals.
-The Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, a drug and alcohol education
program.
-School health curriculum and counseling services, which cover subjects like
teen-age suicide.
-A card game named "Magic: The Gathering," which had been played on school
grounds in Bedford until it was restricted after the complaint of parents.
The parents who are suing the district say they are fighting for the souls of
their children. They say that they are frightened by what they see happening in
their schools and that their children have been emotionally traumatized by some
of the material to which they have been exposed. The group insists that its
members are believers in the separation of church and state and that, in fact,
this is in part the basis of their legal fight.
"People keep saying I want to impose my religious beliefs on the curriculum,"
said Mary Ann Di Bari, one of the plaintiffs in the suit and the grandmother and
legal guardian of two children in the district. "It's quite the opposite. I want
religion out of the school. Keep out 'Hail, Mary,' but keep out 'Hail, Satan,'
too, I say teach them reading, writing and social studies, but don't tell me my
children have to meditate, create idols, engage in rituals and Eastern
mysticisms. This is hogwash. I'm not
telling you to do the Stations of the Cross on Friday. Don't tell me to worship
pagan deities."
Mrs. Di Bari and the other families suing the district are being represented by
the American Catholic Lawyers Association, which is based in Clifton, N.J., and
has no formal connection to the Roman Catholic Church. The grounds of the suit
Are that the school district is in violation of the First Amendment by failing
to separate church and state, and the 14th Amendment by violating the students'
privacy. The latter complaint refers to a fifth-grade classroom exercise in
keeping a journal, an assignment to write a biographical poem, a peer counseling
program, a ninth-grade guidance session on the subject of teen-age suicide and
other activities.
School administrators here were bewildered by some of the charges and appalled
by others. "Its a blend of gross distortions and
accusations, which are simply untrue," Dr. Dennis
said. Some of the practices described in the complaint, like a course in
transcendental meditation, simply did not happen, he said. Other practices that
were singled out - the study of ancient cultures, journal keeping and other
creative-writing exercises and drug and alcohol prevention education - are
widely accepted as mainstream educational programs and methodologies, Dr. Dennis
said.
Rosa Portell, the mother of a
high school student here who supports the district, said she feared for the
integrity of the curriculum. "When teaching about Aztecs is taken as glorifying
'the culture of death,' when asking children to relax and take a deep breath is
seen as an attempt to control their minds, when the examination of animal bones
in class is said to be a 'satanic ritual, when drug education is seen as an
attack on the family, what part of the curriculum will remain free of
censorship?"
Ceil Di Nozzi, a mother of four and one of the parents suing the district, said:
"The reason the lawsuit is so broad is because there is so much going on. Every
time they turn around they have another bizarre assignment. My son was told he
was going to get 'suicide education.' I asked the teacher where that appeared on
the curriculum. I was told that comes under 'Family Living.' It's one lesson
after another to desensitize the children to anything traditional."
The parents fighting the district have been asked why they do not take their
children out of public school and send them to parochial school. Mrs. Di Nozzi
has done that but said she hopes the move is temporary. "I can't afford this,"
Mrs. Di Nozzi said. "It's breaking me. The taxes are phenomenal, and on top of
that I have to pay for private school) The Catholic schools are not perfect.
They don't have the sports; they don't have the music. I pay my state and
Federal taxes, and my children are being denied this. I have a right to be in
public school."
The suit is the latest chapter in a controversy that has been brewing here for
several years. In the spring of 1995, a dispute began over the game "Magic: The
Gathering," which allows players to pretend they are powerful wizards who can
summon enchantments, cast spells and vanquish foes. Magic was never part of the
school's curriculum, but it was being played on school grounds at meetings of
the Magic Club, which met before school at the Pound Ridge Elementary School and
at an after-school enrichment program at Fox Lane Middle School.
Mrs. Di Bari and Mrs. Di Nozzi believed the game was dangerous and promoted the
occult, while other parents felt that it was not only harmless but also promoted
creative thinking and was comparable to chess in its strategies. Dr. Dennis
imposed a moratorium on the game and asked several child psychologists to review
it. Based on their reports, Dr. Dennis lifted the ban.
The criticism of the district was then broadened to include the curriculum and
other school programs. Dr. Dennis said the district would continue to fight the
changes,
"Either you can cave in to efforts such as this and capitulate to anything that
offends the sensibilities of anyone, which I think would have a really chilling
and disastrous effect on public education, or you are forced into a position -
as I believe we are - to defend the good curriculum," he said. "You suffer the
costs, both in time and precious resources that would be better devoted to other
programs."
Mrs. Di Nozzi said: "The educators are very patronizing and seductive and false.
If you have the truth, you go with it. We believe that God will protect the
children in his own time. This is not a popularity contest ' This is a very
serious matter affecting innocent souls under attack."