Once again, rumors persist this holiday season of a pernicious and evil campaign to cancel Christmas in Oklahoma’s public schools. In fact, I recently saw a social media post by our state superintendent pledging to protect Christmas (and guns?) in Oklahoma schools.
As a former superintendent, I am thankful to hear this, and I am stepping forward as a fellow whistleblower to confirm that the plot to cancel Christmas in Oklahoma schools is much worse than anyone ever imagined. The ugly truth: your local school officials secretly canceled Christmas decades ago. Never mind the Christmas decorations, the Christmas celebrations, and the Christmas programs happening in that school on the corner. Don’t be fooled by your principal’s ugly Christmas sweater, or your teacher’s Elf on the Shelf. Ignore the kids singing “Silent Night,” and don’t be tempted by the Christmas cookies. These are all clever smokescreens to cover the sinister reality that public schools quietly yanked the yuletide years ago. Sadly, your local parents and educators have all been part of this conspiracy.
Of course, evil public educators are too crafty to admit they have canceled Christmas, so they put on a darn good show. In fact, the more Christmassy and festive your local school appears, the more they are part of the cover up. They will do anything to hide the truth, even singing Christmas carols about Jesus, but do not be fooled. They only pretend to be your friends, neighbors, relatives, and fellow worshippers. In reality, they are anti-American, anti-God, and anti-parent.
They look like common- sense Oklahomans, but they are secretly devoted to indoctrinating your kids, filling libraries with pornography, and taking away Christmas (and your kids’ guns). You may be tempted to dismiss these warnings as fearmongering and demagoguery, but if they can successfully cancel Christmas without anyone knowing, anything is possible!
If you are reading this column, you are probably in a small Oklahoma town, and you have been told that you cannot trust the local parents and educators in your local schools, but you know them. You worship with them and work with them. Your friends and relatives trust them with their children. They are imperfect people working in an imperfect educational system, but they are not evil, subversive radicals. On the contrary, Oklahoma parents and educators have always resisted irrational nonsense like canceling Christmas. We should be thankful for them, not attacking them. Christmas is alive and well in Oklahoma public schools because Christmas is alive in them.
Before anyone was paying attention, Oklahoma parents and educators were fighting the radical insanity we see happening in other states, but they must now battle the extremist insanity of contrived fear and division. We are told that we cannot trust local Oklahoma parents and educators to uphold Oklahoma values, and for proof, we point to tragic examples, often in faraway states.
Yes, we can always find exceptions to the effective parent-teacher partnership, but it’s time we stop focusing on the exceptions and start celebrating the exceptional people who make your local schools work. Oklahoma’s educational system certainly has its flaws, but our fellow Oklahomans serving kids inside them need our trust and support right now . . . not irrational suspicion.
Despite what may be happening in faraway schools, and despite what we may have been told on Facebook, Oklahoma’s educators do not want to take away our children’s Christmas (or their guns). If you have any doubt, do not take my word for it. Just visit your local schools for yourself this holiday season. All the Christmas parties, Christmas carols, Christmas treats, and Christmas programs are genuine reflections of your community, your parents, and Oklahoma. Don’t expect to see any guns, however, because in Oklahoma, Santa saves them for Christmas morning, when our kids can truly enjoy them.
Tom Deighan is an educator and author of Restoring Sanity in Public Schools: Common Ground for Local Parents and Educators. Email: deighantom@ gmail.com
