Joy of Christmas

Dozens of parents last Friday continued to fume about the school district’s decision to remove Christmas references from holiday events, but sixth-grader Pierre LeBlanc has a different view.

“We were going to do a Christmas play in our class,” the boy said after school. “But we couldn’t. I celebrate Christmas, but I’m glad they are conscientious of other religions and cultures.”

Pierre was in a distinct minority Friday, a day after Gazette sister paper The Milford Daily News reported school administrators insisted students call a Christmas tree a “magical tree,” elf hats used in class plays were altered so they would not be associated with Christmas colors, and songs from “Jesus Christ, Superstar” were removed from a winter concert scheduled at the middle school for later this season.

Dozens of parents, residents and out-of-towners called to express their dissatisfaction with what one parent called “the watering down of Christmas.” A resident at 53 Holliston St., just yards from the middle school, put a small Christmas tree in his front yard with a cardboard sign reading, in capital letters, “It’s Christmas. Merry Christmas.”

As the buses left the middle school parking lot Friday afternoon, numerous people drove by, honking their horns and yelling “Merry Christmas” out the window.

“I was quite upset – somewhere between disgust and sadness,” Medway Village Church Pastor Russell Wentling said, standing across from the school. “It’s political correctness run amok. It creates division unnecessarily in the community. It’s not a constitutional necessity that these kids be kept from singing Christmas songs.”

A couple of holiday concerts were held last week in the school district. Thursday, third-graders sang “We Wish You a Swinging Holiday” instead of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.” Middle school class plays, to which parents were not invited, were held Friday.

Complaints from two parents earlier this month about religious themes in school events prompted administrators to review the scheduled performances. Last week, Middle School Principal Joanne Senier-LaBarre wrote sixth-grade chorus parents a letter explaining “Jesus Christ Superstar” had been cut from a winter concert.

School Superintendent Richard Grandmont said this week the district was being careful “to avoid activities that could be perceived as a school endorsement of religion.”

Many thought the district went overboard.

“We need to embrace our differences, not hide from them,” said fifth-grade parent Joyce Ross, as she stood in the middle school parking lot Friday afternoon talking to fellow parent Wendy Heineman.

Sixth-grader Caroline Pendleton said she was scheduled to perform a line from “Jesus Christ, Superstar” next month. Hawaiian music was substituted in the musical’s place, she said.

Eighth-graders Sabrina Kourafas and Elizabeth Schroeder said the hallways were abuzz Friday with students talking about the Christmas controversy.

“It was a little bit of mayhem,” Kourafas said. “There were a couple of arguments, and almost a fight.”

Schroeder said teachers advised students against wishing others a Merry Christmas.

“We’re not allowed to say anything that other religions may not like,” she said. “I think it kind of stinks. If you know people celebrate that holiday, you should be able to say it.”

Tracy Goldrick, a parent who called the newspaper upset at the program changes, said her phone had been ringing constantly all morning.

Goldrick took her message to morning drive-time radio on WRKO Friday.

“I’m so happy people are talking about this,” she said.

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