As in many places, the Waukesha School Board is in turmoil. A policy that removed safe space signage from school classrooms has remained harmfully vague and ineptly managed since the beginning of the school year. In addition, there have been public controversies about our school system not implementing food programs already funded for our schools. As a minister, one of the most distressing parts of this has been the use of some board members of their Christian faith in opposing equity measures and food programs. This is always mentioned as an “I Think This Because I am a Christian” kind of thing, without any actual scriptural backup. I decided to call them to task on this. The board has a 2–3 minute limit on public comment, so I always go for two so I can take it slower if I get three minutes.
My name is David Simmons — I am a Christian Minister of the Gospel, a priest in the Episcopal Church, the father of a student at Waukesha West and a taxpayer in this School District.
There have been some alarming misrepresentations of Christian belief in the School board debates this year, so I would like to speak to those of you who claim to follow Jesus as your Lord, and especially those who claim faith is part of your decision-making.
You have seen a constant stream of the students of this district representing at-risk minorities speaking to you at board and committee meetings, relating their experiences of harassment and exclusion since the inconsistent implementation of a vague signage policy, yet you continually pretend the solution is not the return to the previous status quo they explicitly ask for, but whatever measure allows you to continue to supposedly “Stay the course.” Jesus has a word from the Gospel of Luke:
“Which father among you would give a snake to your child if the child asked for a fish? If a child asked for an egg, what father would give the child a scorpion?” — Luke 11:11–12 (CEB)
Jesus goes on to say that even evil people wouldn’t do this to their children.
A second word goes to those that would represent that the Christian faith somehow supports denial of food to children in our school district. From the Gospel of Matthew:
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Get away from me, you who will receive terrible things. Go into the unending fire that has been prepared for the devil and his angels. I was hungry and you didn’t give me food to eat. … “Then they will reply, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry … and didn’t do anything to help you?’ Then he will answer, ‘I assure you that when you haven’t done it for one of the least of these, you haven’t done it for me.’ — Matthew 25:41–45 (CEB)
If you wish to continue to make decisions on these issues that harm students of the district out of some internalized political ideology, that’s your choice, and it is up to the voters to judge you. But if you continue to maintain that your decisions are somehow sanctioned by the Lord of Life who said “Let the little children come to me,” you invoke the judgement of God upon yourself. If you claim to follow Jesus, I urge you to emulate his compassion.
