Wrightsville Elementary School in Pennsylvanie recently made a 5th grade student remove a Philadelphia Phillies button from her desk for fear it would offend students who were fans of the Pittsburg Pirates. OK, so that is not exactly what happened, but the real story is just as rediculous.

Your Daily Record is reporting a 5th grade student was indeed asked to remove a magnet from her desk, the magnet said “Smile, Jesus Loves You.”

Tawny Lehman said her daughter, fifth-grader Laurie Lehman, was asked to remove the magnet March 30, after a teacher noticed it.

“What possible harm could this magnet do?” her mother asked the Eastern York School Board during its April 5 meeting. “I mean, what if a white supremacist demanded that a magnet featuring a black boy be removed because they found it offensive, would students have to comply?”

After Lehman called the district to complain about her daughter being forced to remove her Jesus magnet, school Principal Donald Gillett ordered that all magnets be removed from student desks.

In addition to the magnet issue, Lehman said she was also disturbed that a photo of Laurie meant for the yearbook would not be included because she was wearing a shirt that promoted Jesus.

After Lehman complained to the district, the PTO, which sponsors the book, decided to preclude all photos from being used.

“It is within (the PTO’s) rights to withhold all photos from the yearbook since it is their project,” Pianowski said.

School board Vice President Richard Zepp said he understood the legal reasons behind the decision to remove the magnets and photos en masse. But he also said that, if Jesus is the biggest threat facing his district, he could be happy with that.

“I think the world has become more super-sensitive than it has to be,” Zepp said.

What lesson does the school think it is teaching its children when it censors speech in order to avoid “offending” anyone. Surely the Principal did not believe a child showing a button which mentions Jesus was a violation of the Supreme Court fabricated “wall of seperation”.

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Constitution, First Amendment, Religion