Monday, March 11, 2013

Texas school demanded children sign ‘waivers’ over forced Islamic burqas

creeping
via Parent: School demanded ‘waivers’ after WND report.

Parents in a Texas school district are reporting officials told their children to sign “waivers” for their participation in a class where they wore Islamic burqas following a WND report on the activity.
Last week, WND reported that a school in Lumberton, Texas, had underage students wear burqas as part of a lesson on Islam in a ninth-grade high school geography class. A photo of the students in burqas was included in the report.
Now parents report the students were required to come to the principal’s office and sign “incident reports” without the option to refuse. They stated wearing the burqas was voluntary and not mandatory.
April LeBlanc, mother of student Madelyn McLemore, feels that the principal at Lumberton ISD violated parental consent requirements. LeBlanc recounted her confrontation with the LISD principal to WND:

“I asked the principal why she thought it was okay to take a written statement from my daughter without me present? She stated to us that it is a normal procedure they do at Lumberton High School when incidents occur. They have children sign statements all the time without parents present; that it is their procedure. I told her that it was not ok and that this was not a typical ‘incident’ like a classroom skirmish or a disobedient student.”
According to LeBlanc, “The principal eventually told me that it could have been handled better, and that she probably should have called the parents.”
Madelyn told WND that she felt coerced and pressured into writing the incident report. LeBlanc noted that her daughter had called crying from the restroom, telling her mother that she had been dismissed for the day as in a disciplinary action.
LeBlanc also noted that she had been denied access to the principal at first, and had the sense that she was being put off.
“When I arrived at the school and asked the front desk clerk for the principal, she stated she [the principal] was not there. I then told her that a statement was just taken from my daughter and she needed to get someone to the front to speak with me.”
LeBlanc continued, “The principal’s secretary then told me that the principal was gone but she could take my name and number. I refused. I told the secretary to get the principal on the phone.
“The front desk clerk then picked up her phone and called to the principal’s secretary and said in a low tone ‘Those parents are here,’” said LeBlanc.
“Did we do everything right? Probably not, but we attempt to teach our students critical thinking skills so they can judge for themselves,” he said. “I can honestly say, to my knowledge, Lumberton ISD has never converted a single student to Islam.”
David Bellows, a Lumberton resident, however, challenged whether the lesson involved “critical thinking.”
He told WND Valastro disallowed a Bible history course previously, an apparent violation of a Texas statute, in 2008.
Read it all (and if you have young children consider home schooling, ASAP!).

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