Student request poses dilemma
Bayfield teen asks school board to change name of Winter Break to Christmas Break
February 26, 2006
By Chuck Slothower | Herald Staff Writer
BAYFIELD - A Bayfield High School student asked the school board to change the name of Winter Break to Christmas Break last week, potentially plunging the district into a touchy cultural issue.
"I'm very concerned about the traditional aspect of this holiday not being represented on the school calendar," Janice McClain, a junior at Bayfield High, told the Bayfield School District board on Tuesday.
McClain, 17, argued that the United States is an essentially Christian nation founded on Christian precepts and doctrine."Mostly, the Bayfield School District is a Christian community," McClain said.
The board took no action, but Secretary/Treasurer Bill Faust promised the board would not ignore McClain's request.
Two pastors, Faust and Scott Kujath, sit on the five-member board.Superintendent Don Magill said the request marks the first time in more than 20 years that a church-state issue has come before the board. He said he prefers to keep the name as it is.
"I certainly understand her concern from a Christian perspective, but as a public institution, we need to be respectful of all faiths and those who profess no faith," Magill said.
Magill said that school districts nationwide have been switching to generic terms like "Winter Break" - Durango and Ignacio both use "Winter Holiday" - and board member Valerie Borge expressed concerns about the separation of church and state.
"That might be a huge stumbling block to changing the name," Borge said. "More and more people are professing other faiths in this country."
Changing the name to reflect Christmas could present legal problems, said Cathryn Hazouri, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado. 
"Naming Winter Break 'Christmas Break' probably violates the establishment clause, and maybe even the free-exercise clause (of the First Amendment)," Hazouri said.
(Bull, the ACLU just wants to push their own agenda. .... DW)"If you go to calling it a Christmas break, you really are offending a lot of people, and why do that?" she added.
McClain's parents, John and Stephanie McClain, came to the board meeting to support their daughter. They attend Vallecito Church, which John McClain described as a multi-denominational, evangelical Christian church.
Several board members congratulated Janice McClain for having the courage to speak to them. Her testimony followed a letter to board members in December and a visit with Magill in January.
The Bayfield School District enrolls 1,184 students.
The U.S. Supreme Court split hairs in two recent rulings on church-state law, which is based on the First Amendment. The Court ruled in June that a granite Ten Commandments monument at the state Capitol in Texas did not violate the Constitution because it was in a secular context, but framed Decalogues in two Kentucky courthouses were ruled unconstitutional. Both cases were decided by votes of 5 to 4.
"My daughter would never tread on someone else's freedoms," John McClain said. "But we don't want ours tread on, either."
Student request poses dilemma
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