Grinchy remark sends kids home in tears

[Shadow]

Lebanon Daily News

By RORY SCHULER
Staff Writer
Lebanon Daily News

LICKDALE — Jamey Schaeffer stretched her mouth open wide, showing off a pair of twin gaps in her smile. With a mouthful of fingers, she said she has no interest in two front teeth for Christmas.

Instead, she’d like a Barbie doll from Santa Claus — and Santa Claus only.

But a substitute music teacher almost came between the 6-year-old and a Christmas Eve spent dancing cheek to cheek with sugar plums.

Theresa Farrisi stood in for Schaeffer’s regular music teacher one day last week. One of her assignments was to read Clement C. Moore’s famous poem, “A Visit from Saint Nicholas” to a first-grade class at Lickdale Elementary School.

“The poem has great literary value, but it goes against my conscience to teach something which I know to be false to children, who are impressionable,” said Farrisi, 43, of Myerstown. “It’s a story. I taught it as a story. There’s no real person called Santa Claus living at the North Pole.”

Farrisi doesn’t believe in Santa Claus, and she doesn’t think anyone else should, either. She made her feelings clear to the classroom full of 6- and 7-year-olds, some of whom went home crying.

[JoJo]

Well..someone needs to learn a little empathy. I understand having principles, but save your thunder for things that actually matter. Granted, kids are usually hip to the "Santa thing" a lot sooner than they let on to their parents, but this is a rigid point of view.

Which hurts the impressionable children more, what she said, or keeping her thoughts to herself? Did she think that one through?

[Shadow]

I'm a little odd, I consider Santa Claus as part of the magic
of the Christmas season when you are a child. IMO She had
no business doing that to those children. By doing so she
may well have stolen a small but important piece of their
childhood from them...

[JoJo]

Agreed Shadow, I doubt anyone grows up to resent their parents for telling a little "tale" about Santa.

But..in case there is a debate about this, it can be settled in a "professonal" vs. "non professional" approach to your job. If she had issues, she could have chosen different reading material, no one would notice or care. Instead, she chose this particular story, but with the expressed purpose of "debunking" Santa. It's almost funny when you think of it, we've seen our share of debunkers, but none of them to date has taken on this topic.. Oh and then she made a claim of it being in the interest of the greater good, typical of those who are driven by a single agenda.

Why doesn't she go on an internet forum and complain, like everyone else..

[Shadow]

Why doesn't she go on an internet forum and complain, like everyone else..

I might be wrong but I suspect she knows the mass reply
would be four letters: stfu

[LOVELYRITA]

Oh, they don't want to teach kids about something that doesn't exist...

Yet they are forcing children to learn evolution.....that we evolved from apes.....

Not trying to put any type of religious debate in this. But making comments about not teaching about one myth and yet make them learn about evolution, and it's not even really a theory, in all that theory must consist of to be theory.

Are they also going to eliminate Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy....these are little tiny children...we are not talking about College kids...although some act that immature.

[eyesbleed]

So.... SHE must be the one I heard about who's waging this war on Christmas!

I took the young'un(5) to the pizza/playroom place when Sants was there a couple of nights ago. After she had her pic taken in Santas lap, she pulled me aside & said "That's not the real santa... that's one of his helpers.... I know coz I talked to him the other day & that's not him" ;D