Transcripts

CATHERINE WINTER: It's obvious that Ely is changing. It was a logging town, then a mining center, and now it's a tourist town on the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe area. Canoe outfitters and outdoor clothing shops line the main street.

New people are moving to Ely. Jana [? Studelska ?] came here two years ago. Studelska says when her son started first-grade last year, she was surprised to learn that most of his classmates leave for an hour every week for religious instruction.

JANA STUDELSKA: Originally, I think my first concern was for Sam and what he was doing on those Monday afternoons while the majority of his classmates were gone. I was quizzing him at home, saying, what are you doing? And coming to find out that they were watching cartoons in class and that they were doing art projects or they were doing games or sitting at their desk. And I was not happy with that. That just didn't seem right to me.

CATHERINE WINTER: And Studelska believes religious release time violates the idea of separation of church and state.

JANA STUDELSKA: I don't think that kids need to be going to church during school hours. I think that we need to be going to school during school hours. Sending-- allowing these children to leave and go to church, the message there is that this is part of your public education.

CATHERINE WINTER: At Elys elementary school, Principal Bob Jalonen keeps an eye on children at recess. Jalonen says since Studelska brought up the issue, he's making sure teachers give students real schoolwork while their classmates are away for religious release time.

BOB JALONEN: It works fine. It's working well for the students that remain behind. And it's giving those students that-- whose parents choose to send them to release time, an opportunity to get some religious education. It's a win-win situation, in my opinion.

CATHERINE WINTER: State law allows schools to release children for up to three hours a week for religious education. Many districts in other states also allow religious release time, especially in the South and Midwest. In Ely, about 2/3 of the children in grades one to nine take advantage of release time.

The school district recently surveyed parents and found that 84% support religious release time. Bob Schiefelbein, who has two children in the Ely schools, felt so strongly about the issue that he bought ad space in the Ely paper to run a long letter about release time.

BOB SCHIEFELBEIN: People are very concerned. I think they're concerned because there is an attack on some very core beliefs people hold. They feel that there's a wave of intolerance towards religion.

CATHERINE WINTER: Schiefelbein says he wants his children to have exposure to religion during the week, not just on Sunday.

BOB SCHIEFELBEIN: I think the understanding that the school, and therefore, the government, looks at religion as a reasonable part of American life is good. They should have that exposure, that religion is tolerated in this country.

CATHERINE WINTER: Schiefelbein says his children would still go to religious education even if there were no release time, but pastors in Ely acknowledged that they would not get as many students if religious education were not held during school when students can walk to the nearby churches.

STACY PEACOOCK: The church leadership and the public school leadership are telling these students that after school activities come first, religious instruction comes second, and your education comes third. That's the message that they're giving these kids.

CATHERINE WINTER: Stacy Peacock is the mother of twin boys who are in fifth grade in Ely.

STACY PEACOOCK: I think there's a real danger in people not knowing that Christianity is not the law of the land. And when you have a religious program during public school, I think you promote that type of confusion.

CATHERINE WINTER: Peacock says a religious program during school hours is coercive. She believes the children who don't go to religion classes feel a pressure to conform, but she is the only parent who has come forward to support Jana Studelska in her effort to end religious release time. Studelska says some people have told her privately that they agree with her but won't say so publicly. She says she's paid for speaking out.

JANA STUDELSKA: I had a lot of telephone calls, very awful telephone calls yelling and screaming, "Why don't you leave?" Accusing me of being in cahoots with the devil, so to say. I've gotten letters that were really nasty. And you can feel, standing at a gas station or standing in line at the grocery store, the stares.

CATHERINE WINTER: Studelska says if she has to, she'll file a lawsuit to try to force the schools to end religious release time. The US Supreme Court ruled in 1952 that religious release time doesn't violate the constitution, but Studelska believes Minnesota's statute is unconstitutional.

She says she doesn't want to go to court. She'd rather work with other members of the community to use this conflict as an opportunity to learn to work together and show their children how to deal with disputes.

JANA STUDELSKA: This community is changing and it is going to change. And I know there's a lot of people around here-- change is uncomfortable. And we need to learn how to let those changes happen without hurting each other.

CATHERINE WINTER: Studelska says she hopes the school district or local pastors will voluntarily end release time in Ely, but if they don't, she plans to file a lawsuit. The school board is expected to take up the issue this summer. I'm Catherine Winter, Main Street Radio.