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Email: "School Official Suspended for Distributing 4” Fetus Models"

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BY LifeSiteNews.com By Kathleen GilbertNORFOLK, Virginia, May 25, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Two school officials have been suspended at a Norfolk, VA elementary school in connection with the distribution of 4-inch-long baby models accompanied by a card describing a child's growth in the womb."Some people think that my life began at birth; but my life's journey began long before I was born,'" states the card distributed with the pink and brown baby figures, which are soft and shaped like a small child curled up asleep. The reverse side of the card describes the first twelve weeks of the baby's development in the womb.Parents and other officials at Oakwood Elementary School met for a closed meeting on the matter and were quoted by the Virginian-Pilot expressing disgust at the "human fetus dolls" given to third, fourth, and fifth-grade students, and calling them "entirely inappropriate and unacceptable." Oakwood spokeswoman Elizabeth Thiel Mather told the paper Thursday that the baby figurines were not authorized by the division as instructional materials. Board member Kirk Houston Sr. reportedly called the tiny models, "Very life like, and it's a pro-life tool," and said that board members were "all pretty dumbfounded" at their distribution. "As a parent, I choose to teach my children about those things later in life," said one parent. "I did not sign a waiver for my daughter to be given a fetus."The school official thought to have distributed the figures, who has remained anonymous, was placed on administrative leave Thursday after the Pilot asked about the models.Oakwood Elementary Principal Sheila Holas was also put on administrative leave Friday, after the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia demanded that the principal cease inviting students and teachers to participate in prayer and Bible study. ACLU legal director Rebecca Glenburg called the invitations "coercive," regardless of whether the activities were voluntary, "because of the power differential between principal and teachers."It is unclear whether Holas' suspension was also executed in connection with the baby models. Holas declined to conduct an immediate interview with LifeSiteNews.com because, she said, she had yet to meet with the school board.Superintendent Stephen Jones told the City Council in a Friday memo that he would "act quickly to bring the Oakwood incident to a resolution in consultation with the School Board," reported the Pilot. He added that "all Norfolk Public Schools instructional staff members will be reminded of the expectations following this situation."Pro-life blogger Jill Stanek questioned the reasoning behind the uproar over the tiny baby dolls."What in the h-e-double bamboo shoots is the problem with giving 3rd-5th grade children baby dolls? What's the difference between this doll and any other baby doll?" she asked.Stanek pointed to a story by local news station WAVY-TV reporting the "fetus figures" with a "clear anti-abortion message attached," and called the station's take on the ordeal a "hit job against rationality." "Shock! Horror! Since when did human biology become a 'clear anti-abortion message'?" said Stanek. http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/school-official-suspended-for-distributing-4-fetus-models/

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