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 BVSDWatch.org congratulates Chris King for listening and responding to district parent concerns in his recent decision regarding student participation in the Liberty Bell cross country meet in the fall. (Daily Camera: “School Officials OK Track Meet”) This is a high profile athletic event that draws top runners regionally as well as college recruiters, so it is a significant event for our top runners. A number of parents were concerned about the previous superintendent’s decision prohibiting student participation in this event due to a religious day of observance for some. BVSD would have been the only district in the state of Colorado to have banned their students from Liberty Bell. But, on his first day in the job, Chris showed his willingness to listen to the concerns of parents and students who weighed in on the issue and he reversed the earlier decision.
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Liberty Bell is an annual event sponsored by Heritage High in Littleton and sanctioned by the Colorado High School Sports Association (“CHSSSA”). This year it was scheduled on September 14, which falls within Rosh Hashanah, a Jewish day of observance. (Rosh Hashanah runs from sunset September 12 through nightfall September 14.) This scheduling was unfortunate and we urge BVSD to encourage CHSSA to work with the school districts in the state to show appropriate sensitivity to the needs of students in scheduling athletic events. We note, however, based on a BVSD published calendars, that completely avoiding all major religious days of observance is not practical. Conflicts will be inevitable.
BVSD asks that teachers and administrators avoid scheduling events on certain religious and secular days of observance and celebration. (We note that BVSD was not party to the decision as to when Liberty Bell was scheduled.) Should this not be possible, or should a conflict arise from an individual student’s religious beliefs that are not foreseen in the calendar, the BVSD approach is to allow individual families to make their personal decision as to participation. A student who misses an academic or athletic or other extracurricular event must be accommodated to the extent possible on another day or in another way, and such student will not in any way be penalized for their personal religious-based decision. This is the approach that will now be taken with Liberty Bell.
BVSDWatch.org Recommendation
We are concerned about the process that led to parental concern over the initial decision to ban student participation in Liberty Bell, and ask BVSD administration to re-evaluate and clarify their approach to avoid any similar controversial decisions in the future. BVSD has in place a number of policies that pertain to this issue and these policies generally promote accommodation and tolerance for both the religious and non-religious (see for example “Teaching about Religion and Religion in the Schools” (http://www.bvsd.org/C4/Policies/PolicyI/IGAC.pdf). While we find these policy statements appropriate and balanced, like many policy statements, specifics as to how the policies will be implemented are not addressed. It is up to BVSD administration to provide such guidance so that the policies can be implemented uniformly and without controversy.
The topic of religion in public schools can be a controversial one in this country and thus there is a large body of specialized knowledge that BVSD must consider in developing a workable approach to this issue. We encourage BVSD to seek outside expertise in preparing working guidance on the topic. The ACLU has deep experience with school/state issues and the local chapter of the ACLU has worked with BVSD administration on policy issues in the past. We encourage Chris King to again involve that organization in clarifying policy implementation to avoid future controversies, as well as to explore how other large Colorado school districts like Cherry Creek deal with such issues. Also, given the interest shown in this most recent controversy, BVSD would be well advised to include the community in developing a final policy.
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