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With the school year opening in much of the nation, educators will soon be facing two of their traditional challenges: how to raise funds for school operations and how to avoid legal challenges.

A recent federal district court decision may actually help schools with both of those issues, even though the court ruled for a group of parents and against a school district on a very particular issue involving free-speech and establishment-of-religion questions in the realm of school fundraisers.

A federal district judge in Houston has ruled that a Texas school district engaged in viewpoint discrimination in violation of the First Amendment’s free speech clause when it removed an explicit religious message as one option for greeting cards selected by parents as part of a school fundraiser.

U.S. District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal held that the district would not violate the First Amendment’s prohibition of any government establishment of religion by allowing parents to have this choice of message on the holiday cards sold through a third-party vendor: “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus; for He shall save his people from their sins. – Matthew 1:21.”

Pattison Elementary School in Katy, Texas, was selling the holiday cards as a fundraiser for art supplies. The program allowed parents to choose artwork created by their own child as well as one of several stock messages for inside the card. Among the messages the district did not seek to disallow were “Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year,” “Peace on Earth/Let it begin in our hearts,” and messages recognizing Hanukkah and Kwanzaa.

In a 2009 ruling in the case, the district court upheld the district’s restrictions on when and where the fundraiser could take place, and it held at that time that the greeting-card fundraiser did not violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment.

On reconsideration, however, the court held in its July 30 opinion in Pounds v. Katy Independent School District that the free-speech rights of parents were infringed by the school’s decision to black out the explicit religious message as a selection and that the district was not required by the establishment clause to take that action.

“The fact that the school sent the order form to the parents does not make the contents of the form pure government speech,” Judge Rosenthal said. “It was evident that the form was prepared by a third party and that it was the third party that created the twelve preset messages for the parents to choose. … The form created a forum for, or facilitated, the creation of the cards, which was clearly private expression.”

Noting that the case has been active since 2006, Judge Rosenthal lamented the legal minefield that school officials must navigate when dealing with anything touching on religion in public education.

“As this case demonstrates, decisions in such seemingly innocuous and benign activities as elementary school parties and fundraisers for elementary school art classes too often lead to protracted litigation,” the judge said.

A hat tip for this case goes to the National School Boards Association’s Legal Clips, which recently added a frequently updated Web site to its other outlets, which include an weekly e-mail newsletter.

Dave Weber

SANFORD — Seminole County schools’ tough new student dress code designed to make students look more “professional” already has its first exception: Cheerleaders will be allowed to wear short uniform skirts to class on game days, as has been tradition.

While some complain it is unfair, district officials have decided that the ban on short skirts on girls does not apply to cheerleaders.

The decision came after high school principals huddled at the start of football season and agreed to give cheerleaders an exemption to the new rules, which say “dresses, skirts and shorts must be at least mid-thigh or below in length” and nixes clothing that is “sexually suggestive.”

The rules also ban “garments that are distracting” – and spirit-building distraction is the intent of having the cheer squad wear outfits to school on game days.

“It is tradition that they wear their uniforms on game day, like the football players wear their uniform shirts,” said district spokeswoman Regina Klaers, a former cheerleader at Seminole High.

Klaers said the mother of a Lake Brantley High girl who was sent home for wearing a short skirt complained that cheerleaders were getting privileged treatment. But Klaers said the new dress code provides that principals make final decisions on what apparel meets the rules.

The School Board wrestled for a year over tougher dress standards for students, saying sharper dress would set an atmosphere for higher student achievement. School Board Chairman Sandy Robinson said she was striving for a “professional look,” but the final code fell short in many aspects, including allowing students to wear flip-flops on their feet.

Klaers said she was uncertain whether other exemptions to the code would be made, but anticipated some. For example, she said, schools sometimes have a “pajama day” to build school spirit. Pajamas are specifically banned as every day wear.

Other items such as chains linking pierced noses to pierced ears also are banned, as are dog collars worn as jewelry and T-shirts that promote sex, drugs, alcohol, tobacco or violence.

Now that we got a zero week glimpse of half the teams in the Valley, we have a better idea of how the Top 35 shakes out. Something tells me there’s going to be lots of shake-ups in the weeks to come. And yes, we did rank five Sierra League teams in the top ten.

Welcome back to the top ten Bonita …

Super 35 Rankings 1. Bishop Amat (1-0) — Even with first-game jitters, Lancers still roll to a 23-0 victory. A much bigger test comes Friday at Dominguez, winners over Crespi. 2. Chino Hills (1-0) – Posted a 28-14 win over Mayfair on the road. Huskies didn’t have the easiest time, but certainly will take it. 3. Glendora (1-0) — While Charter Oak was winning back-to-back Southeast titles, Glendora felt all along it was just as good. They got to prove it with a 28-21 victory. 4. Claremont (1-0) — We said lets wait and see, well how about a 31-14 victory over Cajon. I’d say that’s good enough. 5 . Charter Oak (0-1) — You didn’t expect the Chargers to fall that far did you? In all honesty, their offense under QB Travis Santiago and his receiving crew are going to be lethal. My guess is they don’t turn the ball over four times in one game the rest of the season. 6. South Hills (0-0) – We’ve seen Charter Oak and West Covina fall, will the same happen to the Huskies at Baldwin Park? We shall see. 7. Rowland (1-0) — QB Michael Ball rallies them back to a 35-29 victory over usually tough defensive Braves team. 8. Bonita (1-0) — If this is how good the Bearcats are without QB Garrett Pendleton, imagine how dangerous they’re when he’s back. 9. Ayala (1-0) — Bulldogs cruise to a 35-13 victory over Don Lugo, face much tougher test Thursday against Colony. 10. Azusa (1-0) — Aztecs facing a tougher than normal season opener Friday at Bell Gardens, an Almont League juggernaut. The rest: 11. Covina (1-0), 12. Damien (0-0), 13. West Covina (0-1), 14. San Dimas (0-1), 15. Walnut (0-0), 16. Arroyo (1-0), 17. Diamond Bar (1-0), 18. Diamond Ranch (0-1), 19. Rosemead (0-0), 20. Baldwin Park (0-1), 21. Wilson (0-0), 22. Northview (0-0), 23. La Puente (0-0), 24. Pomona (1-0), 25. Ganesha (1-0), 26. Los Altos (0-1), 27., Gladstone (0-0), 28. Bassett (1-0), 29. Nogales (0-1), 30. South El Monte (0-0), 31. Sierra Vista (0-0), 32. El Monte (0-0), 33. Workman (0-0), 34. Mountain View (0-0), 35. Duarte (0-0),

Great postgame Interview from Chino Hills Tom, the Inland Insider. He talked with coach Derek Bub, Auston Smith, and Steve Smith, who had three INTs in Friday’s win over Mayfair. with

Syracuse University laboratories are keeping one of the most “eco-unfriendly” materials out of the waste stream. The labs recently stopped trashing polystyrene foam, better known as Styrofoam, and instead are now giving the non-biodegradable packaging material a second life through recycling. 

The new recycling program collects cold-shipping polystyrene boxes from campus labs in Link Hall, Bowne Hall, the Life Sciences Complex, the Center for Science and Technology and the Physics Building. Since the start of this year, 141 polystyrene boxes have been recycled. The bulky containers—most are slightly larger than a small cooler—are made from non-renewable petroleum products and otherwise would have been hauled off campus with the rest of the SU’s refuse for disposal at Onondaga County’s waste-to-energy facility. 

Shelley Kummer, post-doctoral research associate and instructor of biomedical and chemical engineering in the Syracuse Biomaterials Institute, was tossing out dozens of polystyrene boxes each month from Link Hall’s Henderson Lab, where she works. She thought there had to be a better way to dispose of this material, which is very resource-intensive to create. After doing a little research, Kummer found a local company willing to take and recycle her lab’s polystyrene. 

Kummer sent off a batch of Henderson Lab’s polystyrene boxes for recycling late last year. Shortly afterward, the Syracuse University Recycling and Composting Committee (SURCC) got the current program up and running. 

“It was easy getting Henderson Lab going on polystyrene recycling,” says Kummer. “As the boxes come in, any tape and labels are removed before they’re set aside. Then the boxes are brought down to the loading dock once a month to get picked up. It really doesn’t take any time at all.” 

SU’s Physical Plant picks up the boxes on the first Tuesday each month from the buildings’ loading docks or other designated areas. “This new recycling pick up is going well,” says Mark Gildemeyer, Physical Plant North Campus supervisor. “We deliver the boxes to the company for recycling the same day they are picked up from the buildings. It’s pretty simple.” 

“It is important we find new ways to use or recycle products on campus,” says Melissa Cadwell, marketing manager for SU’s Sustainability Division and SURCC chairperson. “Recycling polystyrene shipping boxes is one example of how SURCC members are looking at alternative ways for keeping these types of items out of our waste stream.”