School board candidate wants biblical principles taught in St. Cloud

Jenny Berg | SCTimes

ST. CLOUD — A St. Cloud school board candidate is calling for biblical principles to be taught in public schools.

"We need to restore education. Education started using the Bible as the textbook, and we've gotten away from that and it's not going good for us," said Beth Schlangen, 65, of St. Cloud.

But her call to teach Christian principles in school goes against school district policy and state law — and the other five school board candidates are in stark opposition to her proposal.

"That's what private schools are for. We can't do that," said Les Green, 75, of St. Cloud. "I would imagine a large number of our teachers are religious people, spiritual people. They recognize that their personal spirituality, their religion cannot be imposed upon children in school.

"Freedom of religion also suggests freedom from religion," he added. "That's part of the point — you can't impose your religious beliefs on other people."

A call for 'biblical principles'

When Schlangen announced she was running for school board in May, she said she prayed on the topic and God told her to run.

Schlangen said she was worried about students' mental health and whether they were receiving the skills they need to be successful after graduation.

At the League of Women Voters of the St. Cloud Area candidate forum in early October, Schlangen expanded her platform to include promoting the use of Godly principles to teach children the difference between right and wrong.

"They need to know right so they don't do wrong. I believe with biblical principles, you can know what is right," she said in a Times interview in mid-October.

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Schlangen said things have been going downhill and is worried the last few generations do not have a good work ethic or personal accountability. In the St. Cloud school district, she thinks discipline is an issue because it is not controlled.

"If you're teaching them to do wrong things, you are going to have wrong," she said. "The right way is to love each other, not to do any harm to yourself, not to do harm to others. That's a Godly principle. If you're encouraging them to do something that is going to do harm to you or to somebody else, we shouldn't be doing that."

When asked if she thought St. Cloud teachers are teaching students to do the wrong things, Schlangen said she has concerns about topics such as sex education.

"They are really confusing them about gender," she said. "If you try to go against the natural path your body takes, you can cause harm to yourself."

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Schlangen said parents should be able to send their children to private schools where religion is part of the curriculum, and she supports school vouchers, which use government funds to pay for tuition fees at private schools.

In Minnesota, tax credits are not available for private school tuition, but open enrollment and charter schools allow parents the choice to enroll their students in schools beyond district boundaries. While advocates say vouchers increase parents' options for education, critics say vouchers siphon away money critical to fund public schools.

"That should be the parents' choice and the family's choice and not just one choice we're going to pay for and if you can't afford it, you're stuck with it," Schlangen said. "Our Constitution says we are supposed to provide an education, and when the education that is being provided is not the path the parents are comfortable with, they need to have a choice to make that right decision."

What the law says

District policy states the district must remain neutral in its stance on religion. The district website states the district "shall neither promote or disparage any religious belief or non-belief. Instead, the school district encourages all students and employees to have appreciation for and tolerance of each other’s views.”

The district is obligated by federal law to allow students to observe religious beliefs, which includes allowing prayer at school. Rooms used for prayer are designated as common use within a school and are often used for multiple purposes.

Minnesota law states students can be excused from school to attend religion classes but states "religious instruction must be conducted and maintained in a place other than a school building and it must not, in whole or in part, be conducted and maintained at public expense."

Schlangen didn't give a concrete answer for how the district could implement biblical principles.

"Evidently if they feel there is a state law that says you can't do it, we need to change the law," she said.

When asked about the specifics of teaching biblical principles to students who don't identify as Christian, Schlangen emphasized the core values over specifics.

"There's a lot of principles that people have that are biblical but they don't know that it's that," she said. "I'm not saying we have to teach the Bible, we just need to use the principles."

General 'principles of respect' being taught

The five other candidates said it is not the district's role to teach religion.

"It is a public school. It has rules we follow," said Peter Hamerlinck, 53, of St. Joseph. "It's all set in stone, and we need to follow those policies and the law."

Waite Park resident Natalie Ringsmuth, 39, said she is Christian like Schlangen but understands her religion is not the religion of everyone else in the district.

"We have to understand how to make sure everyone's religion is respected and their constitutional rights have to be respected as schools, but that's where it ends," Ringsmuth said. "I would never expect that my kids would walk into North Junior High and be taught 'Godly principles.' "

St. Joseph resident Larry Hosch, 41, said religious instruction should not be the ethos of a public school. But he emphasized the district does instill values such as honesty and respect.

"I have two kids that go to Kennedy and they talk about the 'Colt Way' — being respectful of one another, treating one another as you want to be treated. I think all of those general principles of respect are being done and it doesn't have to be under the auspices of the Bible or God," Hosch said. "Every child should feel welcome in our schools in being who they are and being confident in their faith and not having that questioned."

St. Cloud resident Zachary Dorholt, 38, agreed.

"Whether you believe in God or not, I think there's plenty of Godliness in our schools with the way teachers approach students and their well-being every day," Dorholt said.

Green said all you have to do is watch how teachers and staff model behavior to understand how "human values" are taught in schools.

"If you look at what would be the standard values that we have in our society, you're looking at things like honesty, good communication skills, acceptance of difference, appreciating your neighbor," Green said. "All those kinds of things that are supposedly embroiled in religious things are being taught in all schools.

"What we don't teach is where they come from. If you try say, 'No, Jesus is the one who brought this.' Well, maybe Allah is the one who brought this," he added. "Those are the kind of things that get us all in trouble."

Green said he disagrees with Schlangen when she says education and generations today are going downhill.

"I don't think we're going downhill, by the way. That's a perception issue," Green said. "The society is just different now."

Green said there has always been violence and dangerous people in the world — and education is not the problem but the solution.

"Our schools are the five-day-a-week, six-hour-a-day solution to that problem," Green said. "The more we have kids in schools learning how to live with one another, learning how to live in a society that is different, the better off we're all going to be. That's our job — to make education more relevant, forthright and more important in the lives of children."

Send news tips to Jenny Berg at jberg@stcloudtimes.com or follow her at www.facebook.com/sctimesjenny or on Twitter @bergjenny.

About this race

Six candidates are vying for three seats on the St. Cloud school board in the Nov. 6 election. Candidates are Zachary Dorholt, Les Green, Peter Hamerlinck, Larry Hosch, Natalie Ringsmuth and Beth Schlangen.

The incoming board members will join Al Dahlgren, Shannon Haws, Jeff Pollreis and Monica Segura-Schwartz. Board members Bruce Hentges, Jerry Von Korff and Bruce Mohs did not file for re-election.

The monthly compensation for board members is approved each January at the reorganization meeting. This year, the monthly compensation was $693 for the board chair and $603 for the other board members.