Day of Silence: Observed in our School District

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Paul, most school budgets are set based on how many students are enrolled in each school, and yes, attendance counts at the school level. If the school has x amount of absences, the money that was set aside for those students is kept at the district level. If this happens too many times, the state will have an issue with that district at some point in time. Thats the reason schools have such a problem with un-excused absences.

Now, perhaps your school system doesn’t do things that way, but a lot of the money still comes from taxes that we both pay. I lived in California most of my life, and now Arizona. Both states set the school budgets based on how many students and they rely in the kids being present.
 
Rich, my point is that missing a percentage of kids on one day won’t affect any of the funding at all. It’ll all average out in the end.
 
PaulinVA said:
Rich, my point is that missing a percentage of kids on one day won’t affect any of the funding at all. It’ll all average out in the end.
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Paul, you are probably correct, but that percentage will only be small because more parents didn’t keep their children home. And in the end, who wins?

Either way, have a good day.🙂
 
Yeah, the funding thing is true. Schools hate unexcused absences. They spend money based on the enrollment, but every unexcused absence the school doesn’t get paid for. Excused absences are different.
 
Hello Everyone,

Once again, I’d like to thank you all for your helpful responses.

Unfortunately, my question was pointless, as my daughter insisted on going to school today and her father backed her up 100%. (She had an oral history presentation scheduled today, and according to her, the presentation could not be postponed until Monday).

I forgot to mention that I’m the only practicing Catholic in our family. I tried with my husband and kids, but apparantly, they haven’t been given the Gift of Faith, yet.

My daughter also claimed I was a bigot and that I hate homosexuals (which couldn’t be farther from the truth).
She cannot seem to separate the sinner from the sin, so anyone who disagrees with homosexual behavior (in her eyes) is a bigot and full of hate. - Needless to say, somebody did a job on her.

Thanks again all and God Bless!

In Christ,

Denise
 
my prayers are with you. I know how hard it is to be the only one in the family with a strong moral compass. :hug1:

At least if she is giving an oral presentation, she won’t be silent. It also strikes me a bit strange that the oral presentations wouldn’t have been rescheduled for a day when they weren’t expecting the kids to be silent. A breakdown in Satan’s agenda, perhaps?
 
Arlene said:
my prayers are with you. I know how hard it is to be the only one in the family with a strong moral compass. :hug1:

At least if she is giving an oral presentation, she won’t be silent. It also strikes me a bit strange that the oral presentations wouldn’t have been rescheduled for a day when they weren’t expecting the kids to be silent. A breakdown in Satan’s agenda, perhaps?
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Dear Arlene,

RE:
A breakdown in Satan’s agenda, perhaps
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If only that were true! You see, this whole DOS thing caused my husband and I to have an enormous argument, this morning. It was very, very bad.
The fact that he allowed my daughter to blatantly disobey me and attend school today (presentation or not), as well as his laissez-fair attitude about me wanting to take a stand against our school’s participation in the DOS. - He actually accused me of having an “agenda”, rather than the GLSEN and groups like them.

Suffice it to say, I am now the “trouble-maker” in the house and the argument we had this morning has not been settled. (Actually, it was more like a fight w/out fists) Very nasty and very hurtful. It was one of the worst fights we’ve had in years.

Please continue to pray for me. I’m going to need a lot of strength over the next few days.

God Bless,

Denise
 
wifenmommy said:
…they can take prayer out of schools, but can FLAUNT sinful sexual behavior???
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“They” cannot “take prayer our of schools”. What they can do is say the school cannot dictate or orchestrate prayer.

As a Catholic, I am glad that my son does not have to deal with some teacher who would be permitted to get up in front of the class and lead them in a prayer that is wrong or evil.

Public schools are to be neutral on religion.

I have handbooks from every school district where we have been enrolled, not one of them prohibits prayer.

Public schools here permit students to take part in the day of silence for Pro-Life issues.
 
The activists have created a poisonous atmosphere in many of the places in our country. It is clearly unjust to punish students for not wishing to participate in this perverse activity. Yet, the Lord asks us to be obedient and to take a stand. He is the rewarder of the faithful.

CDL
 
How about getting some of those printable iron-on t-shirt transfers from the craft store and making up a shirt that says, “My church teaches that homesexual behavior is sinful. And I proclaim it silently.” I’d rather my kid get in trouble for actually DOING something… plus, I would the ACLJ on them like vultures on a carcass if they tried to punish my child…
 
Denise_SHJ said:
If only that were true! You see, this whole DOS thing caused my husband and I to have an enormous argument, this morning. It was very, very bad.
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Dear Denise,

I am very sorry to hear this. I will pray for you and your family. I applaud you for trying to stand up to the school. I had a somewhat similar situation when my daughter was in SECOND grade and they wanted to teach her about AIDS. As if second graders need to hear this, let alone from a secular perspective. They sent home a note that you could opt out. I was the ONLY parent that had my child opt out. I talked to other moms, and they said things like, yeah we thought it was a little weird, but didn’t think it would do any harm, etc. So very few people want to take a stand even if they KNOW it’s wrong.

This year I left my public school teaching job and we took our daughter out of public school and put her in Catholic school because of the growing prevalency of things like the DOS. Our only regret is not doing it earlier.

Here’s a link about how students should not be punished for staying home on the DOS. I recommend parents check this out if their child stayed home today because of DOS.

onenewsnow.com/Legal/Default.aspx?id=77026
 
So, how everyone’s days go?

At my kids’ Catholic school, which was on the “official” list, NONE of the teachers participated, and out of 1200 kids, 5 (FIVE!) - that’s right - 1,2,3,4,5! participated!

They wore rainbow colors and did not speak.

I love it!

Now, to have had my kids stay home, like some suggested, would have been a total waste of a day for them, with tons of homework to catch up on, and 2 tests to reschedule. What a pain that would have been.

BTW, this is a Catholic school, with full tuition already paid for the year, so the school would not have lost any money. In fact, it would have been the kids who would have suffered for missing school.

So, I disagree with keeping your kids home. Have them protest by not participating, as 1195 kids did today!
 
At my daughter’s Catholic school, there was no mention and no participation in this event at all! Hooray! Just another confirmation of our decision to take her out of the public school this year.

I taught at a public school for five years (until this year). For the first four years there was never even a mention of the DOS, even though it had been going on at other schools for years. Then last year ONE student transferred there who said he was gay. He passed out flyers and got other liberal-minded students to agree to participate. This got the whole school into an uproar with teachers wondering if they should discipline students who were not participating properly in class, other students trying to make the DOS students talk, the DOS students causing disruptions by being very obvious about their silence (holding up signs, passing out notes, etc.)

It was a disaster of a day with very little education going on. Our administration said that we could not penalize students for not participating fully in class on that day. What I noticed most was that one student deprived an entire school of a day of education. This was one of the many last straws that made me decide that our family just couldn’t stomach the public system anymore.
 
I’m a lurker on this site, but I had to register after reading this thread.

DOS is observed to bring attention to the abuse, both physical and verbal, of homosexual teens in school. This year’s observance was done in the rememberance of Lawrence King, who was shot and killed this past February. DOS has nothing to do with condoning homosexuality. How mean and rude is it to go to school and talk non-stop because you don’t agree with homosexuality? By talking non-stop, you’re just basically saying that you agree with bullying…

I’m not a high school student, but if I were, I probably would go about my day as usual. But I wouldn’t make light of the fact that there are thousands of parents that are missing their children. And thousands upon thousands of poor kids that are being bullied. If my child were older, I would tell him to say a special prayer for the kids that are killed every day, for the parents of those children, and the kids that feel it’s necessary to take another human being’s life.

edited to add: And some of the children that are beat-up and killed aren’t even gay! If a boy or girl doesn’t “match up” to their sex, i.e. a sensitive boy or a girl that is a tomboy, they are sometimes labeled as “gay.” There’s a story of a three year old boy that was killed by his father because his father thought he was gay. :rolleyes:
 
beecr said:
I’m a lurker on this site, but I had to register after reading this thread.

DOS is observed to bring attention to the abuse, both physical and verbal, of homosexual teens in school. This year’s observance was done in the rememberance of Lawrence King, who was shot and killed this past February. DOS has nothing to do with condoning homosexuality. How mean and rude is it to go to school and talk non-stop because you don’t agree with homosexuality? By talking non-stop, you’re just basically saying that you agree with bullying…

I’m not a high school student, but if I were, I probably would go about my day as usual. But I wouldn’t make light of the fact that there are thousands of parents that are missing their children. And thousands upon thousands of poor kids that are being bullied. If my child were older, I would tell him to say a special prayer for the kids that are killed every day, for the parents of those children, and the kids that feel it’s necessary to take another human being’s life.

edited to add: And some of the children that are beat-up and killed aren’t even gay! If a boy or girl doesn’t “match up” to their sex, i.e. a sensitive boy or a girl that is a tomboy, they are sometimes labeled as “gay.” There’s a story of a three year old boy that was killed by his father because his father thought he was gay. :rolleyes:
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I think the problem comes in when DOS is used as a protest against those who do not support the gay agenda, which is the way it was used on my campus. There is a strong “you’re either with us or against us” attitude when it comes to gay rights, and people who don’t support them are considered intolerant, hateful, and homophobic, even if they do not hate gay people themselves.
 
beecr said:
But I wouldn’t make light of the fact that there are thousands of parents that are missing their children.
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I don’t think anyone is making light of bereaved parents. It is the DOS participants themselves that often turn the day into a circus. Regardless of what some people say is its stated purpose, the DOS has become a tool of disruption and of pushing the radical homosexual agenda into the schools.

If we try to frame it as sympathy for those who have been harassed and or children who have died, then we need to add Abortion Awareness Day, School Massacre Awareness Day, Murdered Children Day, Abused Children Day, Starving Children Day, etc. There is no shortage of oppressed and victimized groups. The point is that the schools are supposed to be there to educate. We all have compassion for parents who have lost a child, but there are appropriate ways to express that compassion and the DOS is not and effective way.
 
originally posted by Catholic90
At my kids’ Catholic school, which was on the “official” list, NONE of the teachers participated, and out of 1200 kids, 5 (FIVE!) - that’s right - 1,2,3,4,5! participated!
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They wore rainbow colors and did not speak.
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Some schools had five while others had 50+ with tee shirts, banners and tables. The estimate is that six thousand schools participated.

Those five students stood out because of their rainbow colors, their lips taped, the fact that they didn’t speak in class and they were seen by hundred of students and may have even handed out literature. They planted in those students’ mind this was a Catholic school sanctioned event and that being openly gay was OK which is not acceptable.
 
Let me put this is perspective. My wife just pointed this out to me.

Friday, my son went to school, where out of 4000 students, he noticed one girl with duct tape on her mouth.

Meanwhile, my older daughter was at the state middle school/high school honor choir event. Over one thousand public school choir/chorus honor students singing the praises of Jesus.

If you have kids in chorus you know that all of the great choral arrangements are religious. So, while on one day a few kids weren’t talking, for three days of rehearsal and performance, 1000 public school kids from around the state were singing Psalm 117 and O Rex Gloria (O King of Glory), among other pieces.

We shouldn’t push too hard against these little protests - God is in the schools much more than some people are aware.
 
Our local catholic high school, the one tied to my kid’s elementary school and my parish is also observing this day.

We recently had a child killed at a local middle school shortly after he “came out” and was dressing more feminine at school. He was only 15 years old and the boy who shot him – 14. venturacountystar.com/news/2008/mar/08/students-remember-slain-teen-larry-king-during/

I think the point of the movement is to teach children about hate and tolerance – not to encourage a homosexual lifestyle. However, I am finding that it’s “cool to be gay” in this day and age, so being the best teachers at home is all you can do. Some people really are born this way, and oh how they suffer. The senseless violence on gay youths is far more worrisome to me than a day supporting an end to the violence.

As Catholics we are told very clearly in our catechism that we shouldn’t hate people with SSA, but offer our love and support. You say you don’t want to sound bigoted, but removing your daughter from school on a day encouraging tolerance appears to be exactly the opposite. But it is YOUR daughter, and you should do what you think is right.

And yes, I agree with previous posters: you could actually get in trouble for pulling her that day. Call the school and ask. Or don’t call, keep her home, and write a note that she was sick.
 
beecr said:
I’m a lurker on this site, but I had to register after reading this thread.

DOS is observed to bring attention to the abuse, both physical and verbal, of homosexual teens in school. This year’s observance was done in the rememberance of Lawrence King, who was shot and killed this past February. DOS has nothing to do with condoning homosexuality. How mean and rude is it to go to school and talk non-stop because you don’t agree with homosexuality? By talking non-stop, you’re just basically saying that you agree with bullying…

I’m not a high school student, but if I were, I probably would go about my day as usual. But I wouldn’t make light of the fact that there are thousands of parents that are missing their children. And thousands upon thousands of poor kids that are being bullied. If my child were older, I would tell him to say a special prayer for the kids that are killed every day, for the parents of those children, and the kids that feel it’s necessary to take another human being’s life.

edited to add: And some of the children that are beat-up and killed aren’t even gay! If a boy or girl doesn’t “match up” to their sex, i.e. a sensitive boy or a girl that is a tomboy, they are sometimes labeled as “gay.” There’s a story of a three year old boy that was killed by his father because his father thought he was gay. :rolleyes:
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Thanks for registering and posting. I posted before I read the thread. Lawrence King was killed here in my town. Sadly, and I mean this, sadly, the community was not nearly up in arms as it should have been.

Welcome, and look forward to more of your posts.
 
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