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Nehemiah 2:17  "You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire.  Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace."

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Partnership Elementary 1st Amendment Violation

Friends,

In August we received an email from one of our members regarding an incident that took place at Partnership Elementary School in Raleigh. This member's children were disturbed by some odd things they had been taught in class. A New Age "Elder", Ms. Emily Gunter, had been invited in by the school Principal to teach K-5th graders about dealing with "stress" via her Rites of Passage Youth Empowerment Program. Activities such as "Conscious Breathing for a Relaxed Mind", "Unity Circle", "What Are Your Colors and Values", as well as something along the lines of chanting (non-english words/sounds) were taught to children as young as Kindergarten. A brief note in the school newsletter informed parents that there would be a class on dealing with stress, but it did not elude to the new age nature of Ms. Gunter's teachings.

As a Christian, you may be most offended by the teaching of a false religion to children, whether they are yours, a friend's, a neighbor's or a stranger's...but the issue runs to matters of law as well and should be troubling to people of all religions, or those with none at all.

We immediately did some fact checking and paid a visit to Ms. Gunter's website where her mission statement reads: "Bringing peace to our world through the personal development and spiritual empowerment of the youth". The new age basis of her teachings is easily discerned when you spend just a few minutes going through her site. Not knowing exactly what we were dealing with, we placed a call to the Christian Law Association and law firm of David Gibbs III, who you may recall was the attorney for Terri Schiavo. They put together a very detailed evaluation and came to the conclusion that the Wake County Public School System (via Partnership Elementary) had, in fact, broken the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. At this point, we knew we had to pursue some course of action.

We have sent a letter to Superintendent McNeal, as well as all of the School Board members, asking them to do two things:

• Issue a formal reminder to all Wake County Principals and Administrators regarding these types of religious activities in the classroom.
• Inform all of the Partnership Elementary parents of this incident and and what they are doing to keep it from happening again.

We gave them copies of the Overview and Legal Opinion Memorandum provided by Mr. Gibbs' firm, as well as Guidelines for Religious Freedom in Public Schools which was put out by the Department of Education in the 90's to every school district in the nation. In most cases like this one, the school officials simply do not understand the law. Our prayer is that Superintendent McNeal will take strong corrective action to see that it does not happen again. Here is what we are asking of you:

• Pass this email on to people you know who have children in the Wake County Public School System so that they can be on the "lookout" for this kind of activity in the future.
• Take the time to download and read the overview/legal memorandum so that you will fully understand the facts surrounding this incident.
• If you have children in the WCPSS, download the Guidelines for Religious Freedom because you need to know the facts... remember, Christmas is right around the corner.
• Please inform us if anything like this has happened at your school.
• Pray that this will be well received by our WCPSS leadership and that they will act accordingly.

Last but not least, VOTE in the School Board Elections on October 11th for those candidates who support our values! We will have a non-partisan voter's guide available online by October 1st for you to download and distribute. We have also started a Political Action Committee (Called2Elect) which will be endorsing individual candidates in these critical races. We must act to protect the innocence of our children (more information on the election will be coming soon).

As always, thank you for your prayers and action. Together, by the grace of God, we are making a difference.

In His Service,

Steve Noble
Chairman

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