Mr. James Heywood
Director of Elementary &
Middle School Instructional
Services
P.O. Box 2120
20th Floor
Richmond, VA 23218

Dear Mr. Heywood,

I trust this missive finds you in the holiday spirit. I write to you regarding the curriculum at the elementary school level.

Enclosed please find a copy of the letter I sent to my school board representative recently. I was instructed by your counterpart at the county level to contact you. I was made aware that the reason for this lesson is that such matters are covered by the new SOL’s. My response to her, as it will be here is, just because it’s in the SOL’s doesn’t mean it should be. My letter to Mrs. Pettitt speaks for itself. I see this type of lesson as acquiescing to the P.C. crowd.

Now just so you’ll know, I am a big proponent of the SOL’s in general. The public school system is desperately in need of fixing and this is a good start. However, why not just get rid of any and all politically motivated lessons (read indoctrination). I am very frustrated by the continued misuse of classroom time on such matters. That time could be better spent on the three R’s. Please help me prepare my children for their future as productive members of society, not political robots. I cannot remember ever filling out a job application that asked me if I recycle plastics or conserve water.

Another bone of contention regards the fallacy of separation of church and state. My son recently brought home his classroom assignments to show his grades. Among them was a picture of a Menorah (sic?) with definitions of the meaning of Hanukkah and its celebration. In the past I have seen similar assignments about Kwanza and Ramadon. Yet to this point I have not seen any assignment regarding Jesus Christ and the celebration of the Christian Christmas. WHY!? Apparently Christianity is not worthy of our school’s time. After all, in the spirit of fairness and tolerance, shouldn’t our children get some exposure to each of the major religions? Or are only certain ones acceptable? Just thought I’d ask.

I have decided that I will no longer allow these seemingly innocuous yet insidious lessons to go unchallenged. I will do everything in my power to fight this type of indoctrination of my children. I trust that you will direct me to the proper source of my frustration, if it is not yourself.

I hope that you will address my concerns soon. Thanking you for your time I will close now asking you to know that I am, Sir,

yours for education,

Floyd C. Bayne

cc: William C. Boscher
Larry Elliott
Diane Pettitt
R. Lee Ware
Stephen H. Martin
Arthur S. Warren