You probably have never heard of Ryan Vanderwiel. He is a 7th grader at Prairie View Jr. High in Tinley Park. He lives in the same town as I did and attends the school district where not only my children but myself also attended.
At District 140, there is a huge influx of Muslim students. A mosque was built close to our area and with it came many Muslims. My kids, one of whom is graduating high school this year and the other of whom is in college, both went to school with Muslim kids. They had Muslim friends. Everyone got along.
Recently, things have changed. There seems to be more Muslim kids at the school. The high school is now about 40 percent Muslim. The grammar schools also have a lot of Muslim kids as well.
For the past 10 years, we have slowly stripped away any mention of Christmas or any other Christian holiday from the school. There are no more Christmas pageants. No more parties. At the high school, Christmas trees are called “Festive Ferns.” Any mention of Christmas or Easter or even Halloween is not allowed in the schools.
Why, then, is there a Ramadan Table for Muslim students only during this season? Yes, during Ramadan, the Muslim holy holiday, the students requested a Ramadan Table. This was granted by the school board right away. Apparently, it is okay to mention Ramadan in the school.
Ryan Vanderwiel is no ordinary 13 year old. He is a smart kid who understands that it his civic duty to question elected officials. He asked the principal of the school, Joel Martin, for a Lenten Table. This would be for the Catholic kids who cannot eat meat on Fridays. Apparently, the excuse for the Ramadan table was so that the Muslim kids would not be tempted to eat. Well, since the Catholic kids are not supposed to eat meat on Friday during lent, they should get a special table, too.
The principal ignored his request. And he continued to ignore it until the 13 year old wrote to a local paper that allows online letters. There are two papers in our town. One of them ignored Ryan’s letter. The other allowed it. The first paper, not wanting to be outdone by a weekly freebie, then called the school. All of the sudden, the issue was addressed. Much to the chagrin of the school board.
I covered the meeting of the school board. They decided beforehand to grant the request for the Lenten Table prior to the meeting. They announced this at the meeting.
At the meeting was a copy of an editorial. The editorial was from the Daily Southtown, not the paper I work for, but the other paper. It was copied from the paper’s website and also listed the anonymous comments that are allowed on news websites. The editorial called request for the table “silly,” and questioned the motives behind the request. The anonymous comments were all negative (but anonymous) about this kid.
Now Ryan Vanderwiel is being labeled a “racist” because he dared to speak up against what he saw as a clear violation of church and state. After all, as one parent put it, the school has done everything it could to remove any mention of religious holidays except the Muslim holidays. At the grammar school where my niece attends, a teacher said “Happy Eid and Happy Holidays” to the kids.
I did the ultimate no-no when acting as a reporter and actually spoke up at the meeting. I work for this paper part time and it really doesn’t pay any big bills. I like it, but I was willing to lose my job when I saw a father being berated by the arrogant school board president, Thomas Martelli, for questioning the fact that this editorial was handed out at the meeting. I stood up and spoke. As a resident of the district, I have the right.
This wasn’t the only editorial. There were others. Our paper did one that called this practice what it is - segregation. Yet the board felt compelled to actually put out copies of an editorial that derided the young man. Then at the same time, out of the other side of their face, praised him for his enacting his civic duties.
And let’s just be frank. This isn’t because of lent. It isn’t because of Ramadan. The Muslim kids wanted a table because they don’t want to sit with any non-Muslims during Ramadan. If this had started with Catholic kids it would be all over the news now. Instead, it is yet another story buried by the media.
The school board was outraged that we covered this story. The board president actually asked why we didn’t cover the “cup stacking championship” with such vigor. They wanted to know how this got into the papers.
I want to know why this didn’t get national coverage. The kid asked for the table in February. He was ignored for months. Finally, after he wrote to two papers, the school gave him an answer (after they consulted with their attorney). Then, at the meeting where the 7th grader spoke in front of a packed room full of adults, they handed out a derogatory editorial pulled from the internet along with comments from people too cowardly to post their names and got angry when they were questioned.
And they don’t think that this is news?