Los Angeles Schools Debate Display of Holiday Lights

December 7, 2000

Source: Los Angeles Times

On December 7, 2000, the Los Angeles Times reported that "despite objections last year--and the state's power crisis--parents put up holiday lights at a Newport Beach public school but were compelled to take them down after a warning from the school board president. Many parents, who spent hours Saturday cleaning the grounds at Mariners Elementary School and stringing colored lights around the buildings and white lights in adjacent olive trees, said Wednesday that they were bitter over the thwarting of their show of holiday festivity. Others, including school officials, Jewish parents, and a local rabbi, said the light incident is a sign that parents and community members should be aware of non-Christian viewpoints--especially considering that a parent objected last year when lights were put up...But the head of the school's parent foundation disagreed and defended the parent-purchased lights. 'I don't view lights to be religious,' said Graham Tingler, who helped string the lights this year and said he was unaware of the controversy last year...Tingler said he felt demoralized when he learned that school board president Dana Black had asked parents to remove the lights...Ann Ramser, past president of the school's foundation, said she was aware that a parent had complained last year, but because she did not view the lights as a religious expression, she did not take the complaint seriously. After parents strung the lights last year, a former parent at the school called and complained, and even threatened to sue if the lights were not taken down, Ramser said...One Mariners parent who is Jewish said her children often have felt different from their friends, especially during Christmas, when lights, carols and Christmas trees are ubiquitous. Public school is one place, Marisa Levy said, where non-Christian children should feel free of that sense of being left out...Superintendent Barbot said controversy over holiday expressions is a frequent issue in schools."