Letter to Christ The King School

Letter to Christ The King School

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  IMBKCAC I Am MyBrother’s Keeper Christian advoCaCy CounCil Taking A Stand For Survivors Of Church related Abuse P.O. Box 6167 Peoria, IL. 61601 Advocacy Hotline (800)728-0352 8/22/2018 Christ The King Parish School Reverend Michael N. Nguyen Principal Mrs. Dawn Castillo 2106 Deerfield Rd Terrytown, LA. 70056 Dear School Administrators, Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who was, who is and who is to come! I write in defense of sixth grader Faith Fennidy who was recently handled in what I observed to be one of the most unfeeling, uncaring and non-Christian manners that I have witnessed in education. To be clear, as one who has worked closely with education administrators over the years, I understand the need to establish and uphold policy in order to address the many issues that arise during the course of a school day and during the educational process. However, any policy that singles out groups or ethnicities either covertly or directly should be rejected first, based on human decency, and further, (within a Christian based education environment) tempered by a healthy version of biblical Christianity. Unfortunately, I and others around the country witnessed just the opposite from you and your school. We did not observe either human decency or a sound Christian witness in your response to Faith’s “alleged” violation of your dress policy contained on pg. 18 of your 2018-2019 Student Handbook. To be frank, your policy on hair, in this regard, is indeed RACIST and is targeted towards ethnic groups in which you are aware, are more likely to wear their hair in such a fashion where extensions and braids are used. Your rule appears to be a covert policy used to subjugate children, not only to assure sound education, but to assure conformity to your ethnic and social values and to deculturalize the individual or student.
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  There is abalm in gilead Imbkcac.wixsite.com/imbkcac Further, after examining your policy, it seems that there is evidence that the intent of your effort, at least in this student’s case, was to single her out for some reason and make her, and potentially others “like” her, an example. I come to that conclusion because your policy in its preamble states the following on pg. 2 of the handbook:  “ The Principal has the authority to use discretion in making decisions regarding unforeseen circumstances. The Principal may also amend the student handbook as necessary.” This would mean, that the Principal has the leeway and right to amend policy or withhold discipline until there is such a time that said policy and actions could be discussed. In other words, the only reason I and millions of others around the country know about this today, is because your administration made it an issue. You chose to be confrontational over a racist and ethnically biased policy in effort to send a message not only to your school’s students, but to the world in general. Specifically, to do this under the guise of “Christianity” and “education” are both offensive to me and millions of other Christians like me. Your actions are anything but Christian, and the effort is anything but education. As previously stated, your efforts are about subjugation and your willingness to withhold education based on your cultural bias is not only unloving but also too fantastic to believe. We are involved because this is ABUSE! The Catholic Church, as Pope Francis recently said “abandoned the little ones” Although that was said of the rampant sexual abuse that took place in Pennsylvania over the last 70 years, it is evident that similar abandonment, in the name of educational policy, is happening to certain ethnic groups associated with your school. Yours is educational abuse. Yours is abuse of power and authority in a lust for deculturalization based on your view of what culture should look like and appear to be. We believe that you can correct this situation, by first removing such racially targeted and ethnically centered language and bias from your school policy. If the aim and effort of your school is truly “diversity” and inclusion as your website material suggests, I would suspect that you would be engaged in immediately correcting your error of judgment and affirming your Parrish’s commitment to the entire community as opposed to only a select part of it that fits your targeted views. Secondly, as a parent, I would want a full apology from the school, along with an amended and corrected record to reflect that this student was not at fault for any action. I would also want extra care taken to avoid retaliation in any manner from both staff and or fellow students.
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  There is abalm in gilead Imbkcac.wixsite.com/imbkcac Finally, as a community member, I would demand that you select a diverse group of parents to be a part of future policy making for your school. The parents should have input, across the board, in policy making that affects their children and other students and they should be represented in a diverse manner. I understand that you are not a public school. However, you are “supposedly” Christian. As a Christian, I can say that Christ’s efforts of liberation first reconditioned our hearts to make us compassionate removing obstinance of mind and feeling far from us. It is to those Christian values and virtues that I appeal. At a time, when the educational environment is so vitally important to all of us, I am moved with compassion, as I saw a baby crying because she was cheated and denied her rights to an education in an environment that she is comfortable in. It is my desire that you would respond to this letter and many other requests that I am sure that you have received in a restorative and courageous manner representative of our shared Christian beliefs, by taking swift action to love this child and her family and take responsibility for your actions. Heal the young lady and her family. Become a partner in education and not an adversary. Bury stereotypes and negative perceptions and whatever I or my organization can do to partner and help make the environment a winning one for all of us, please let me know. Thank you and may the Lord bless you with courage to act. In HIS Service, Supt. Harvey Burnett IMBKCAC ~ Executive Director