The Letter to the School Board

(see previous post for what brought this on)

Dear Mr. X,

My daughter is a student at X Junior High. On February 14, each student was given the opportunity to pay a dollar for the privilege of wearing a regular shirt to school instead of the usual uniform shirt.

I am very concerned about where these funds are going and about the use of the public school system to raise money to help buy an ultrasound machine for the Women's X Center. That organization clearly intends to use that machine to try to make desperate, pregnant women feel even more horrible about the difficult choices they face. According to its website, this group counsels women regarding "post-abortion syndrome." The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reported in 2003 that "there is no evidence of an abortion-trauma syndrome." The American Psychological Association has found that"the weight of the evidence does not suggest a psychological hazard for most women." Furthermore, pro-life Surgeon General C. Everett Koop wrote in a letter to President Ronald Reagan summarizing the findings of his study that any psychological effectswere "miniscule."

You and I may agree or disagree. I am confident we agree, however, that this is a highly incendiary topic. I therefore think that it is inappropriate for such an organization to become the recipient of funds taken directly from the hands of schoolchildren, collected by teachers, and through so powerful an incentive as a uniform-free schoolday. I don't expect Planned Parenthood to benefit from schoolchildren's fundraisers. I don't expect Women's X Center to do so either.

Please note that the flyer this organization handed out to X Parish schoolchildren (attachment)contains a capitalization error ("for Mommies to see") and is also missing one needed apostrophe ("their babies heart beat"). Indeed, on the same day that my child came home with this flyer, she also came home with a study guide from one of her teachers, the latest in a shocking series of documents written by her teachers that have contained errors in spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar. May I respectfully suggest that perhaps teachers' time spent encouraging blissfully innocent children to donate to a controversial cause and teachers' time spent at the front of the classroom actively encouraging children to attend a religious event during the schoolday (the recent "Just for Jesus" revival, December 5) might be better used for more important and pertinent matters, such as proofreading documents?

I look forward to hearing from you about the Valentine's Day fundraiser. Thank you,

(little ol' me)