Christmas spirit at a Newark charter school–the children will “suffer”
The Gray Charter School in Newark has warned its students they face punishment, including reductions in their academic grades, if they do not attend and participate in a school-sponsored holiday program scheduled off-campus at night and bring at least one adult who must purchase a $25 ticket and provide transportation after the show ends.
Verna Gray, described in school literature as the school’s founder, executive director and principal, sent a letter home to parents insisting the children in the privately-operated but publicly-funded charter school must “participate in school performances throughout the year.”
“These performances are mandatory for all students and will directly affect their Language Arts grade which includes the area of performances, public speaking, and an overall oral language grade,” Gray wrote. (Emphasis in the original letter).
If, for whatever reason, parents do not allow their children to attend the “Winter Festival,” “their grades will suffer.”
In addition, children–all of whom are in elementary grades–not attending the performance will “be given an extra amount of homework for that evening.”
The homework, wrote Gray, will be “do in completion the next school day.” She apparently meant “due,” just as she incorrectly wrote the name of the location of the Winter Festival. She wrote it would be held at the “Roberson Campus Center” at Rutgers-Newark. The center is, in fact, named after Paul Robeson, the Christmas spirit at a Newark charter school–the children will “suffer” |:
