As school ramps back up, so do concerns over what recent proposals the William S. Hart Union High School District board has approved in time for class. As of July 20, the board approved to display “In God We Trust” on the wall in the district boardroom. Regardless of your faith, we as good Americans should have deep concern with this latest effort from far-right individuals on our board.
For starters, the president of our board, Joe Messina, mentions that he thinks displaying “In God We Trust” is a good idea because it is what the founders wished for. Mr. Messina claims the framers aspired for the motto to be on our currency and federal buildings. I cannot stress this enough, but this is categorically false. With all of the gripes of liberals shoving ideology down our students’ throats and being taught about a partisan view of history, Mr. Messina has found himself guilty of the same accusation. The founders did not intend for this motto to be on our currency, and it was not even displayed on coins until the Civil War. According to the House of Representatives website, “In God We Trust” did not show up on paper bills until 1957 following a 1955 bill passed by the Eisenhower Administration. To inform Mr. Messina about some of the origins of American history; the motto that was often used during the start of the great experiment by our founders was “E Pluribus Unum,” which is Latin for, “Out of many, one.”
Secondly, we have the Establishment Clause in the First Amendment. This clause states that the government cannot have an established religion. I am not a constitutional expert, but I do not think it takes one to observe the board’s actions as those that want everyone in the community to know what their faith is. As a product of the Hart school district, I had to learn about the Constitution; maybe it is time for the board to do so as well.
Third, the policies passed at the meeting were considered “emergent.” My question is, why is a religious motto an emergent issue for this board? We have students who come home to no food on their tables. We have teachers that are only receiving a 2% pay raise when the cost of living has gone up tremendously, and they cannot even pay a mortgage. These are the types of issues that are emergent.
Following that, the board also did not take public comment into consideration when making this emergent decision. They did it from their personal choice. Personally, if the board is intending to approve a religious motto in a government building, the people of this community should have a say.
There are other issues with this policy like the fact that this will be donated from money the board did not disclose during the meeting; but the ultimate point is that this is again a classic example of Republicans in this town shoving ideology down our throats.
Jack Teoli
Newhall
