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Politics : Leftwing Agenda to Destroy the US -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: paret who wrote (257)	4/10/2006 3:58:11 AM
From: ig	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 908

Says here that students can also get credit for Scouts and 4-H.... === mpp.org The Washington Times - Saturday, June 10, 2000, Page A8 Seniors earn credit pushing pot reform Sunday school teaching doesn't count By Gerald Mizejewski Two Maryland high school seniors earned their mandatory community service credit by fighting to reform the country's marijuana laws. Scarlett Swerdlow, 18, and Keely Owens, 17, both of Bethesda, put in dozens of hours stuffing envelopes, organizing library materials and ordering reports for the Capitol Hill-based Marijuana Policy Project. The pair, who graduated from Walter Johnson High School on Tuesday, helped "educate the public about the effects of our nation's marijuana policies and the need for more reasonable, compassionate alternatives," according to their student activity application form. "Me working here isn't about wanting to get high," Miss Swerdlow, now a summer intern with the organization, said yesterday. "It's about the damage the marijuana policies are doing." The Marijuana Policy Project, a nonprofit lobbying organization, believes the United States should "allow responsible adults to cultivate small amounts of marijuana in their homes," the group's World Wide Web site says. Walter Johnson's service learning coordinator approved the advocacy group without question or delay, Miss Swerdlow said. The credit is needed to graduate. If the youths are advocating a position and learning about the Democratic process it "is considered to be legitimate," said Kate Harrison, a school system spokeswoman. Others consider it a bad idea. "My first response is, `What are the people at the school smoking?' " said Janet Parshall of the Family Research Council and host of a national radio program. Blair Ewing, a member of the Montgomery County Council who served 22 years on the school board, thinks students should help others at a soup kitchen or homeless shelter. "My preference has always been that students work somewhere other than a lobbying organization," he said. But a current school board member had no objections. "We may not agree with everything that kids advocate," said Stephen N. Abrams, a member of the county school board. "I think you have to look at the legitimacy of the organization." Chuck Thomas, a Marijuana Policy Project spokesman, insisted that volunteering with his organization is no different than helping out the National Rifle Association. "We're hoping next year we can get hundreds of students in Montgomery County interested," he said. Student community service was approved by the Maryland Board of Education in 1992 as a requirement for graduation from public high school. The graduating class of 1997 was the first one to complete the service requirement. Students must perform at least 75 hours of community service except in Montgomery County, which requires students to take community service classes and perform 60 hours of actual service. The Montgomery County Volunteer Center trains public agencies and nonprofit organizations and recommends them to the public school system. The marijuana group is not in its database. Ultimately, approval of a service project is granted by service-learning coordinators in the high schools and a system official who oversees them. Students in a Baltimore middle school earn credit by working as hallway monitors. In Carroll and Cecil counties, students can fulfill the mandate by participating in Scouts or 4-H clubs. Teaching Sunday school is not an acceptable way to earn volunteer credit in Montgomery County public schools, said Mary Ruttkay of the Walter Johnson PTA. Miss Swerdlow, a three-time county debate champion, got involved with the marijuana topic this year after trying to find a controversial issue for a speech competition. She was reprimanded by school officials for choosing marijuana prohibition, but a coach encouraged her to stick with it. She went on to win first place in a Montgomery County forensics contest in March with a speech on marijuana law reform.

To: paret who wrote (257)	4/10/2006 4:19:50 AM
From: ig	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 908

...and here's a kid who got 36-hours' credit for Christian puppet shows. See? Fair and balanced. --- rutherford.org School Officials Discriminate Against Religious Puppeteers, Deny Community Credit for Volunteering at Vacation Bible School GREENBELT, Md.—Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute have filed suit in the U.S. District Court of Maryland on behalf of two public school students who are being denied full credit for their community work because their activities were part of a Vacation Bible School program for children on an Indian reservation. Institute attorneys argue that by enacting a mandatory Student Service Learning program that prohibits students from receiving credit for participating in a community activity if the primary purpose is religious, Montgomery County School officials violated the students’ rights to religious freedom, free assembly and equal protection as guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth Amendments. All Montgomery County students are required to complete 60 hours of community service prior to graduation. In addition, students who earn credit for more than 200 hours receive a special award and a special notation on their school transcripts. During July 2001, students Joshua and Anna Gale participated in a Vacation Bible School program for children on the Cheyenne River Sioux Indian Reservation as part of their community service efforts. The program included puppet shows, music, crafts and games, as well as Bible lessons. Montgomery County School officials initially denied Joshua, a Walter Johnson High School student, 20 of his 36 credit hours due to the religious content of his activities. After intervention by Institute attorneys in January 2002, Montgomery County Schools informed Joshua he would receive credit for the full 36 hours. However, Montgomery County School officials refused to change their discriminatory program and insisted that they would not approve student credit hours for participating in activities whose primary purpose was religious. Because Montgomery County School officials refuse to change their discriminatory policy, Joshua, who has not yet completed the 60 hours, will not be allowed to participate in any religious community service activities; Anna also may not participate in a religious activity while she works her way toward the goal of achieving 200 credit hours. “Religious students like Joshua and Anna Gale who choose to serve the community through church work, such as Joshua’s entertainment of indigent Native American children, should not be forced into service that doesn’t reflect their deeply-held values,” stated John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. “School districts that mandate community service must recognize that the Constitution is wary of government decisions about which private expression is ‘valuable’ to the community and which isn’t.”