School Board Mulls Killing Christmas Concert

0 July 21, 2007 in News, Social by
Another school board wants to cancel a traditional Christmas concert, move it to the end of January and call it a “Winter Concert” out of fear of offending non-Christian citizens. The New Hyde Park School Board of Long Island, New York cast a split vote on the issue in a meeting on July 9th. Under the proposal, put forward by Board President Patricia Rudd, the current concert would have been moved to the end of January or early February, and renamed Winter Concert. The vote was 3-3, with one abstention. In the end, the Board passed a further proposal to study the issue with an advisory group of parents, and to revisit the topic at future meetings. Superintendent Regina Cohn expressed her disappointment with the defeat, telling the board that “I feel sorry for the children. I have never said this to a board before. I am very disappointed that it has come to this.” Referring to the fact that she could have made the decision to move the concert without bringing it before the board, Superintendent Cohn added: “Out of respect for the board I did allow this to happen, but I am sorry that it did. I will tell you that as someone who is not Christian, who in a previous job went to work on Dec. 25, that this is something that is offensive.” In discussion prior to the vote, Vice-President Robert Nugent said the proposal was “a wonderful idea to deal with an issue that has been extremely controversial in the past.” “This has not been discussed fully in our community for 10 years, and 10 years ago this community was a very different place,” he said, adding that “we have to honor the fact that we are changing as a community.” Pointing to the rows of empty chairs for the public, board member Ernest Gentile cast doubt on the divisiveness of the issue in the community, saying, “The general public has not come here in enough numbers in the last 10 years to justify changing Christmas to something else.” “I think the issue is about one word - Christmas. It’s nothing to do with religion,” he said. “I don’t think we should be moving anything. I don’t think that anyone goes to the concert expecting it to be Jesus Christ on the cross.” He was supported by trustee David Del Santo, who said, “I am not in favor of moving anything, and I’m not religious.” “When folks move into the neighborhood,” Del Santo continued, “they should adapt to our way of life. One of the freedoms you have here is the freedom to move if you don’t like it.” “It’s an emotional issue for a lot of people,” said Joseph Bongiorno. “I don’t think it’s a question of giving in. I think it’s a question of doing what’s right. I think we should look at moving the concert and celebrating the children.”

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