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By Jim Cornelius
News Editor 

Sisters welcomes youth pastors

 

Last updated 6/13/2006 at Noon



While the Bend-LaPine School District has stopped visits from local youth pastors, Sisters School District has continued to welcome them.

The Bend visits were stopped after parental complaints, which just haven’t cropped up in Sisters, according to School Superintendent Ted Thonstad.

“We have not had an issue; we have not had a complaint,” Thonstad told The Nugget. “We’re glad they come... we think they’re a positive force in the school.”

Sisters has no formal policy about the visits of youth pastors, Thonstad said. There are, however, some strictly enforced parameters. The pastors are run through standard background checks, fingerprinted and given school ID badges. They may visit at lunch time and talk to members of church youth groups, but they are not to attempt to convince other students to join a youth group.

Religion is not a forbidden subject in the classroom, but it must be handled appropriately, Thonstad said. That means religion is usually discussed in the context of comparative religion, literature or history.

“You’re not supposed to have a religious discussion about the benefits of one religion over another,” Thonstad said.

Students themselves have considerably more leeway; they can talk freely about religious subjects and invite other students to participate in a youth group.

What they cannot do, Thonstad said, is push or hector other students. If that happens and a student complains, the situation will be handled under the school district’s harassment policy, based on behavior, not content.

So far, that hasn’t been a problem either, Thonstad said.

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

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Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.

 

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