Note: This post has been updated. Parents denied access Five Lewisville ISD parents of high school students said that ministers from local churches frequently hang out on campus during student lunch hours, spreading their religious messages to students there.
Campuses mentioned so far are Flower Mound High School and Marcus High School, both in Flower Mound. Churches mentioned so far are Fellowship Church in Grapevine and The Village Church in Highland Village. The Young Life, an evangelical youth organization describing itself as "[bringing] the good news of Jesus Christ into the lives of adolescents with an approach that is respectful of who kids are and hopeful about who they can be."
Parents are upset not just because of the proselytizing by these fundamentalist Christian churches, but by the seeming hypocrisy in the recent censorship of President Obama's motivational "Stay in School" speech (which some conservatives claimed was "indoctrination"), and the complaints of some parents that they are not allowed to enter the school or have lunch with their kids.
One parent even reported that their student was injured at school and the school rebuffed the parent for trying to pick them up to seek medical attention. The student was later punished for having contacted the parent during school.
We contacted LISD yesterday to seek clarification of district policies:
One of our readers reports to me that she is not allowed in her son's school to sit and have lunch with him. She also reports that members of a certain local church have unfettered access to students during that same lunch hour, talking to kids and distributing materials.
Can you please let me know what the policy is with regards to access to our schools by members of outside organizations? Is it even conceivable that a parent would be locked out while representatives of outside organizations would be allowed in? Would any such groups be allowed to distribute literature?
District Spokesperson Karen Permetti responded today, saying:
We do allow parents on campus during the school day. We don't have any policy restricting parent access unless if its a campus-wide testing day, such as TAKS.
Update #1: After following up about the church visitors, Permetti responded:
Each year, principals meet with all officiants who visit students. During this meeting, they are instructed they can only have lunch with students who attend their congregation and they must have parent permission. Also, they are not allowed to handout materials or proselytize. They are simply there to visit and mentor students in their congregation. All volunteers in LISD are subject to background checks unless they have direct supervision per the Texas Education Code 22.0835. Any parent who has questions or concerns regarding an officiant's visit, should contact the campus principal.
Update #2: Permetti later explained that parental permission required is not checked by the principals, but is managed between the officiant, the student, and the parent.
Although there is no formal Board policy regarding these visits, standard operating procedure is to deny access to these officiants if there is an infraction of the rules, though Principal Paul Moon of Flower Mound High School said that no visitors have ever been asked to leave.
From our Emails Although we received this information from parents of LISD students, we must caution that at best this is corroborated hear-say.
(Note that all student names are kept private, and some identifying information has been withheld to protect the students and parents at this point.) Case #1: A parent writes:
I just heard that someone's kid came home and said that a church group was coming in at lunch time and talking to (and hand out information to) the kids in the cafeteria about the church. ... Parents are not even allowed to go have lunch with their kids in the cafeteria at the high school. In fact, as a parent, you have to turn in you driver's license and then be escorted anywhere you go just to gain entry to the school.
Parent later followed up with their own child, and responded: "All I got was a nod that, yes, someone had been there, but they don't know who it was."
Case #2:
Student at Flower Mound High says "people from Fellowship have come up at lunch and 'hung out and talked to kids' who are members of Fellowship. Of course they then talk to all the other kids sitting around."
Case #3: Parent writes:
My daughter is a [student] at Marcus-... -says the youth minister from The Village Church comes to Marcus lunches. He and some other people from the church were there in the last cople of weeks she doesn't remember exactly when. As far as she knows they talked to the kids that go to Village church and didn't hand out any info.
Case #4: Parent writes:
I quizzed [my child] when she came home from [Flower Mound High] school. She says that the "intruders" appear to be college age youth that come in during lunch, in small groups, to visit with the youth from their church. They don't hand out any literature as far as she has seen, but they DO invite those in proximity to come join them in their fun and exciting youth activity. It seems fairly harmless except for the unfair advantage and intrusion on a captive audience. The same audience that had to be protected from the indoctrination targeting them from the POTUS!
Last month, [my student] [injured herself] during school. Badly. She [contacted me] and I rushed over. I was told that she had seen the nurse and was back in class. I wanted to SEE her. They agreed to send for her (like what's the big deal?) and I took her home to treat the burn....she got in trouble for [contacting] me, but these folks get to sashay in and have access.
Case #5 Parent writes:
I quizzed my kiddo last night about it, and it really bugged her. ... she is a Christian ... But, she has friends who aren’t and she was sitting with one yesterday during the confrontation. ... [T]he church kid told my daughter and her (other than Christian) friend that Christianity, specifically their brand of Christianity, was the only religion and everyone else is wrong and will go to hell. ... This kid knows of the kind of repression his / her religion brings to their family and their personal community. Being reminded about that in their own school is scary, unsettling, and should be a crime.
So What do We Have Here?
On the one hand, we have the school district saying that: 1. Parents are absolutely allowed on campus, and can have lunch with their kids. 2. Church personnel can only visit and interact with their own members with parental permission and may not proselytize or distribute literature.
But we have parents saying they can't access their kids, or that staff make it hard. And we have examples where there has been some proselytizing and repression, but not seemingly in any sort of systematic or school-sanctioned way. Rather, what it seems like is that visits to the school are a way of mentoring and supporting students, and making a presence known, so that interested students can seek out these groups.
Parents with concerns about the visitation policy should contact their school principal with details about any violations of procedure, as well as any instances of harassment or repression, neither of which have any place in a school environment.
We have provided contact information for principals for the three schools in our coverage area: Flower Mound High School Mr. Paul Moon, Principal - 469-948-3408 moonp@lisd.net
The high school years are some of the toughest years for kids to get through. Those of us who have made it past can remember the peer pressure for a vast number of things that have mostly negative consequences, like drugs, alcohol, promiscuity, gangs, street racing, ad infinitum.
It is an age where the body matures, but the mind is still immature, and largely incapable of making well-reasoned and sound decisions about life choices that have long-term ramifications. It is an awkward time of life where many teens want to push away from the nurturing control of their parents and try to stake out their own identity and define their own being.
These almost-adults need caring mentors who can relate to them in ways that would be awkward for parents. Parents, after all, know all the dirt. Parents changed diapers, wiped noses, cleaned up after, caught and punished all sorts of infractions, and daily deal with the mundane consequences of messy rooms, lack of help around the house, and so forth.
What the kids need is someone who can respect them as equals - or as close to equals as practical - but with the benefit of having both life experience and a good set of values to guide life choices.
Whether you agree with the religious views of these organizations or not, I think we have to admit that groups like Young Life step in and fill a void that might otherwise be met by a crowd with much less altruistic goals in mind for these kids.
Although I would agree that there is no place for religious instruction in public schools, I think that to ban organizations like Young Life because it may occasionally cause hurt feelings for someone would be to throw out the baby with the bath water. On the balance, these organizations do a lot of good for youth, reaching out to some who wouldn't be reached, and providing a safe, fun, and nurturing environment to help these kids mature and reach their potential.
Now, I was a member of Young Life when I was a kid, growing up there in Waco, and I can tell you that they were a positive influence.
Why Religion? I've read the statements of faith of the three organizations mentioned in this article, and I don't accept them for myself. I have a different interpretation of the scriptures, and God's plan for mankind. But I do respect these organizations for not just what they're doing, but the way in which they are doing it.
First, I think that some of these volunteers see it not just as a way to proselytize, but as a way of devotional service, consistent with their beliefs about giving of themselves.
Secondly, whether you agree with their religion or not, they're mostly spreading it the RIGHT way, leading by example and showing by their actions what they believe, sharing the gospel as they see it while serving. What they're not doing is forcing religion on anyone or trying to get government to do it for them.
It would be easy to look at the operation of these programs and conclude that churches are luring kids in with free food or fun activities, then sucker-punching them with a heavy dose of indoctrination. On first read of these churches websites, I must admit that the thought crossed my cynical mind. But, I do have to give some credit to today's teens for their ability to tell when someone is being sincere with them, versus trying to manipulate them. A church might get away with doing something like that once, but the kids are not going back unless they are making friends, and feeling respect.
There are other more secular organizations and activities which can fill some of these roles like the Freemasons' DeMolay Society, Scouting or Communities in Schools.
I think it is important that we encourage the work of organizations like this, but that we also keep a watchful eye on any organization - religious or not - that interacts with kids, to make sure that they truly do have the best interests of the kids in mind. These organizations and their volunteers should neither abuse the trust that their position affords with the kids, nor subvert the intentions of parents with respect to their children's religion.
If there are problems with a given organization crossing the line, then we need to have parents come forward and work with LISD staff to solve it.
If school staff fail to solve these problems, then by all means, I want to hear about it, and we'll dig back in and get some answers.
Re: Parents Say Lewisville ISD Allows Church Groups to Pr...
I know that when I went there the Lewisville church of Christ Campus and Singles Minister would be in the cafe/commons area during lunches. Not sure if he passed out literature to anyone, but I do remember him soliciting students who were not members of that specific church.
I wonder what the district would say if an Imam came to the school to talk to the students about Islam? A Rabbi? I would bet (and I'm not a gambler)that there would be a huge outcry from parents and the district if this was allowed.
Nice work, Steve. Keep us updated!
-jpl
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Anonymous
Posted: 2009/10/8 11:09 Updated: 2009/10/8 11:21
Re: Parents Say Lewisville ISD Allows Church Groups to Pr...
Ditto - great work Steve.
I wonder if the "Church of Cannabis" would be allowed to talk to students during lunch. At the very minimum, I could talk to them about the Church of the Flying Spegetti monster (I'm sure the ISD staff is aware of who they are). http://www.venganza.org/
I have some muslim friends who would love the opportunty to recruit young Flower Moundians into Islam. Do you think the School would allow that?
"SERIOUSLY" - I can make some arrangements for representatives of these other religions to be available to students during lunch.
We sent a list of 4 specific questions to the principals of Lewisville HS, Marcus HS, and Flower Mound HS:
1. Is there a specific policy at your campuses regarding which groups would be allowed and which would not? (e.g. Scientologists, Muslims, political groups, etc.)
2. What is the procedure when a visitor does not follow the guidelines Ms. Permetti mentioned in her response? (e.g. No proselytizing, no interaction with non-congregants, no literature)
3. What specific congregations visit each of your campuses, and has the district done background checks on each of the officiants?
4. To your knowledge have any of these visitors ever been asked to leave for violating the rules?
Principal Brad Burns of Lewisville High School said "LHS does not encourage or allow proselytizing on campus by visitors."
Principals Gary Shafferman and Paul Moon both responded simply "We follow district guidelines."
In an earlier email exchange with District Spokesperson Karen Permetti, we asked: "Is there an official written district-wide policy on these visits, or is this basically up to the discretion of each principal?" Permetti responded: "There isn't a formal Board policy, it's a standard operating procedure."
So, we basically have the district administration saying there is no "formal policy", and principals saying they "follow district guidelines".
And we still do not have answers to the four questions we asked.
We have requested follow-up from Permetti and the Principals. The pat answers provided by the principals basically amount to a "no comment". I think that is unfortunate.
Re: Responses from Campus Principals - LHS, MHS, FMHS
I will say in LHS principal Brad Burns' defense that he became the principal my senior year of high school, and I cannot vouch for anything that happened in the cafe due to my skipping out and going to lunch off campus :).
Mr. Burns is a good man, and I do take him at his word that "LHS does not encourage or allow proselytizing on campus by visitors." That doesn't mean that it doesn't happen though.
In a perfect world I wish no groups were allowed to do this at a public school, but if it is going to be allowed it is important that all faiths are allowed to be recognized and treated the same way, not just one. Being a Christian, I would be angry if another faith group were allowed special privileges in a public school while Christians were excluded. The door swings both ways.
I have some former teachers who I have stayed in frequent contact with at LHS over the years, I'm going to ask them about this. Anything I get I'll share with you.
In response to an open records request, LISD released today the names of visitors to its Flower Mound H.S. and Lewisville H.S. campuses. The district was unable to locate any record of non-parental visitors to the Marcus campus.
From Lewisville H.S, the period of 8/24/09 - 10/7/09, only one non-parental visitor was identified: Jonathan Hurley, who visited once on 9/11/09 and stayed for 4 hours, 57 minutes. (Long lunch period?)
For Flower Mound H.S., over the same period, there were 6 visiting youth ministers or Young Life volunteers for a total of 16 visits, each lasting an average of about 2 hours. Ministers who visited Flower Mound H.S. were David Livengood (Young Life), Christopher Raines, Rema Shehab, Caleb Beets, Jeffrey Capps, and Blake Chilton.
The district could find no records of visitors for Marcus H.S., and says that there is no chance that a visitor got in without signing in to get a badge. This seems to be at odds with what the parent in Case #3 above was saying, so we're going to follow up and see whether the incident was this school year or last year.
I attended Lewisville High School and graduated in Spring 2009. I can say, without doubt, that people from churches came to lunch all the time. It was not a rare event; it would happen once a week, if not more.
Just a quick note that I received a phone call today from an LHS parent who was turned away from visiting their student at lunch just as recently as 2 weeks ago, which would be AFTER we were told that parents were allowed in.
I've advised the parent to speak to the principal and get back to us with any further problems.
Set aside for the moment whether or not most teens would like to get a visit from Mom or Dad at school - that's not the point. If we're going to allow outside organizations to send representative in, then we cannot keep parents out.
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Re: Parents Say Lewisville ISD Allows Church Groups to Pr...
