Family Furious After Teacher Forces Young Boy To Wash Ash Wednesday Cross from Forehead
One Catholic student had an Ash Wednesday experience neither he nor his teacher will ever forget.
William McLeod, a fourth-grader at Valley View Elementary School, part of the Davis School District in Utica, came to school Wednesday with ashes on his forehead.
It was Ash Wednesday, the first day of the Christian holy season of Lent. Members of the Roman Catholic faith mark the day by having ashes put on their foreheads in the shape of a cross.
When McLeod reached his school, located in Bountiful, Utah, he discovered that the ashes made him an attraction for curious pupils.
“A lot of students asked me what it is. I said, ‘I’m Catholic. It’s the first day of Lent. It’s Ash Wednesday,’” he said, KSTU reported.
But his teacher did more than just look.
The boy said that the teacher, whose name had not been disclosed, ordered him to clean off the ashes and would not listen to his explanation about keeping them on his forehead.
“She took me aside, and she said, ‘You have to take it off,’” he said.
“She gave me a disinfection wipe — whatever they are called — and she made me wipe it off,” he said.
Karen Fisher, McLeod’s grandmother, said she was “pretty upset” when the teacher called her about the incident.
“I asked her if she read the Constitution with the First Amendment, and she said, ‘No,’” Fisher said.
Anti Christian bias in our Schools! Teacher wipes off Catholic student’s Ash Wednesday cross with disinfectant wipe. It’s our educational system that needs disinfected — of leftist anti-Christian hatred.https://t.co/ROtVsbpWg8
— GrrrGraphics Cartoons (@GrrrGraphics) March 7, 2019
Why is it Time and time again these liberals violate someone’s Constitutional rights yet call their victims and anyone that doesn’t see things their way fascist and nazi? This must stop enough is enough!https://t.co/Fmo5PWpmmc
— William Seemore (@WilliamSeemore) March 7, 2019
Apology should be more than sufficient. No need to hit the nuclear button every time someone makes a mistake. Apologize, accept apology, and move on. https://t.co/82tqXkcHmK
— Joe Narmi (@JoeNarmi) March 7, 2019
Davis School District spokesman Chris Williams apologized and said an investigation is being conducted.
“Why that even came up, I have no idea,” Williams said. “When a student comes in to school with ashes on their forehead, it’s not something (where) we say, ‘Please take off.'”
The boy’s family received candy and a note of apology from the teacher.
“I hope it helps somebody and I hope it never happens again,” Fisher said. “I don’t think it will.”
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