9/11 Moment of Silence in East Islip, NY Elemetary Schools

The results of the 9/11 Committee were announced at the Board of Ed meeting last night (10/6/09). I am pleased that East Islip will now honor 9/11 in an age appopriate way. They have created a comprehensive curriculum, that address's all of our concerns. A Moment of Silence has been restored. In addition, the committee has come up with a number of positive ways to honor and remember 9/11. They even addressed how they will handle 9/11, when it fell on a weekend. Another important result was that the district would notify parents on how they plan on handling 9/11, at some point during the summer months. This will eliminate any surprises, such as we had this year when the Moment of Silence was taken away without notice. I thank Superintendent Mr. Chu, Boad of Ed President, Ms. Kim Phillips, the 9/11 Committe and all commuity members that voiced their concerns (pro & con). It is now time to move on as a community, knowing that the right thing has been done. God Bless America.

To:  Patriotic Americans

The East Islip School District Superintendent, Mr. Wendell Chu unilaterally decided that he would not allow elementary schools within his district to have a moment of silence in memory of 9/11. He implemented this on the 8th Anniversary of this cowardly attack on our country. East Islip is located less than 50 miles from Ground Zero. Many families in our district lost parents and loved ones on 9/11.

There was no warning to parents prior to 9/11/09. I first found out about this at a Timber Point PTA meeting at on 9/14/09. There was also no warning from the principals of any of the schools. This despite the schools ability to quickly contact each parent via a telephone message or official letter to each child's home.

I immediately contacted Mr. Chu via e-mail. He admitted that this was his personal decision.

This is what he had to say:

"Most of the children in our elementary schools were very young on September 11, 2001 and some were not even born yet. I believe that parents should be the ones to broach the subject of this day with their children. I feel that young students need to feel safe and secure, understand that bad things happen, but feel that these events are very rare, and the human spirit does amazing things in the face of adversity. Our students' preparation for thoughts about these issues varies greatly and my decision was really a desire to be sensitive to the feelings of parents, not a desire to ignore the day." He says this despite not warning the parents that he had no plans to honor our country with a simple moment of silence and a lack of discussion in the classroom.

Do you agree with his statement? If he wanted parents to "broach" the subject, then he should have warned the parents. He goes on to say that he wants to be "sensitive to the feelings of parents." He sounds like a politician that wants to see how the public feels before making a decision. I am sorry, but there is no decision here.

In the past all of the elementary schools had a special moment of silence and then sang "God Bless America." I feel this was appropriate and do not feel a child would be harmed or afraid by this. In fact, it would probably bring out feelings and thoughts that could be shared in the classroom. This never happened.

What upsets me most is that there was no warning that he would handle the day this way. I personally would have kept my son out of elementary school on 9/11/09.

Mr. Wendell Chu did find it important enough to allow the middle school and high school to have a moment of silence, and 9/11 was discussed in the classroom. Thank you Mr. Chu!

I respectfully requested that Mr. Chu give an apology to each person in our district (he did not acknowledge this) and let us know how he will treat 9/11 in the future (should he still be our Superintendent).

He indicated that he would "re-consider the way we remember 9/11 as a district and a community" but that he would "take it up at some later point in the year in preparation for next year's anniversary."

I do not see what was wrong with what was done in the past: 1) having a moment of silence and 2) singing "God Bless America." Is a special committee and months of meetings and discussions really necessary? I think this decision can be be saved from the bureaucratic BS and Mr. Chu can save us the anxiety of awaiting his decision. It wasn't broke, so there was no reason to fix it!

Mr. Chu ends his last e-mail with "I just want to get a better sense of how others feel." Please take a moment and let Mr. Chu know how you feel. Sign this petition. Share it with every patriotic American you know. Feel free to send Mr. Chu your feelings. His e-mail is: wchu@eischools.org.
His office phone number is 631-224-2010.

Please sign this petition if you think that Elementary Schools in the East Islip School District should have a moment of silence to remember 9/11.

God Bless America.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The 9/11 Moment of Silence in East Islip, NY Elemetary Schools Petition to Patriotic Americans was created by and written by Peter J. Carino, Retired FDNY Fire Captain (carino@optonline.net).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.