Grade schooler's crucifixion drawing sparks religious row
| Boston
Did a Massachusetts school attack Christmas or was it trying to prevent one of its students from potentially doing harm to himself or others?
That is what is at issue in the case of a grade schooler at Lowell M. Maxham Elementary School in Taunton, Mass.
His father, Charles Johnson, stirred up controversy when he told reporters of various newspapers this week that his son was suspended for drawing a picture of the crucifixion as part of a class project to draw a picture about the holidays.
鈥淭hey can鈥檛 mess with our religion,鈥� Mr. Johnson . 鈥淭hey owe us a small lump sum for this.鈥�
But the Taunton School District released a Tuesday night that refutes almost every element of Johnson鈥檚 story. District officials say:
鈥� The boy told his teacher that it was himself on the cross, not Jesus.
鈥� The drawing was not part of a school project.
鈥� The boy was not suspended from school, but rather given a psychological evaluation out of concern that the picture was a cry for help.
鈥� The picture circulated by the media is not the same one that prompted teachers to report the boy.
鈥淩eligion had nothing to do with this at all, 100 percent nothing to do with it,鈥� Julie Hackett, superintendent of the Taunton public schools, told The Boston Globe.
In its statement, the school insists it followed 鈥渨ell-established protocol,鈥� including reviewing the child鈥檚 records and consulting with school psychologists. The statement called early media reports of the story 鈥渢otally inaccurate.鈥�
After the story originally surfaced in a local newspaper, the town鈥檚 mayor called for Dr. Hackett to apologize to the boy and his family. But he has since decided to back the school鈥檚 decisions.
鈥淒r. Hackett has far more of the facts than I do, and now I understand that the report was not accurate,鈥欌�� he said. 鈥淏ased on her account, I stand behind my superintendent. She is in possession of the facts.鈥欌��
The boy was allowed to return to class Dec. 7 after a two-day risk assessment by a licensed social worker. It concluded that the boy 鈥渄oes not appear to be a threat to himself or others at this time.鈥�
According to Johnson, that assessment amounted to a suspension.
The incident 鈥溾�� his son, who he says is now being ostracized by the other kids at school, he said.
鈥淗is rights were violated,鈥� Johnson .
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