mysteriousworkings.com

The New Jersey Board of Education voted to approve their list
of religious holidays permitting pupil absence from school for the 2010-2011
school year. Included for the first time on this list are the eight
Pagan/Wiccan holidays, or sabbats. This marks the first time any state has
approved Pagan holidays to a state calendar, and will set a precedence for
other districts and states across the country.

This story starts with a mother sending in a note to get her daughter
excused from school for Yule, 2009. Rev. Elena Ottinger's daughter attends
Pennsville High School in the Salem County School District, located in
Pennsville, NJ. Brianna Ottinger had recently finished her "Year and a Day",
a traditional time of study for many Wiccan initiates. Rev. Ottinger, who
has a doctorate in metaphysics, wrote a note to her daughter's school,
letting them know that she would be taking Yule off from school to
celebrate. When Brianna came home that day, it was with the list of approved
religious holidays for NJ schools and a note from the vice principal that
stated while they would give Brianna an excused absence, it would not be an
excused absence based on a religious holiday.

Looking at that list, which includes a variety of approved days (including
the birthday of author and Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard), Rev.
Ottinger decided that it was not enough just to get an excused absence for
her daughter, she wanted her daughter and others like her to have the same
religious freedoms at school that others did.

When she phoned the Pennsville High School's vice principal to discuss the
matter, Rev. Ottinger was told to call the State Board of Education, who
explained to her that even though the state puts out a calendar, it's up to
each township whether to allow and excuse religious holidays for students.
At that point Rev. Ottinger states that she tried to get an appointment with
the district's superintendent to discuss the matter, only to be told that
she would be dealing with his secretary, who asked for three days to look
into the matter. After four days, Rev. Ottinger says she called back only to
be told by the secretary that they were "looking into it" and would get back
to her.

Seeming to not be getting any help from her daughter's school district,
Ottinger went online to ask for ideas and support in Pagan forums that she
frequented. Many responded back to her that it was "not my problem" as they
didn't have kids. New Jersey Pagan Amie Tolomeo suggested that Rev. Ottinger
call the ACLU and eventually called them on her behalf . The ACLU then put
Ottinger in touch with a lawyer who was instrumental in helping to get
Wiccan prisoners their religious rights in New Jersey, who Rev. Ottinger
retained.

Rev. Ottinger's lawyer contacted her daughter's school and gave them 24
hours to give a religious excuse for Yule or the Ottingers would take the
district to court on the matter. Though Rev. Ottinger reports that the
ultimatum was at first rejected by the district, eventually the school
board's lawyer did call to report that Brianna would et the Yule sabbats off
as a religious holiday.

Not wanting to stop at just her district, Rev. Ottinger called the state and
requested that the Wiccan holidays be added to the state calendar. The NJ
BOE requested that Rev. Ottinger send in any information that she could on
Wicca as a religion, such as when it was established and when the holidays
fell during the year. Rev. Ottinger at that point contacted other Pagans in
the community and requested that they, too, send in information about Wicca
to the board, to show that there was more than just one individual
interested in adding the holidays to the calendar.

One of those asked to write in was the Rev. Matthew Bartky, Pastor and
President of the Board for Sacred Wind Sanctuary, and am a Local Coordinator
ad Secretary of the Board for Central New Jersey Pagan Pride Project, Inc.
Rev. Bartky helped organize a letter writing campaign to the BOE, and posted
about the topic in Facebook, Myspace, Witchvox, and several Yahoo groups,
that Rev. Bartky considers "the main sources of information for the NJ Pagan
Community".

And it wasn't just New Jersey Pagans who wrote in. Brianna Ottinger's
grandmother, herself a Christian, wrote to the state BOE to ask that they
give Pagans the "religious freedoms that are afforded to everyone." Many of
Brianna's school friends also wrote letters of support as well. Rev.
Ottinger, along with her lawyer and the personal friends who had supported
her every step of the way, sent in multiple packets of information on Wicca.

Rev. Ottinger not only hopes to not only get the Wiccan sabbats on the
calendar for New Jersey, but also to change the policy of giving individual
school districts the discretion whether to allow the holidays to be excused.
The holidays, Rev. Ottinger believes, should be automatically excused as a
religious holiday for students who supply the necessary parent approval.

http://www.examiner.com/x-26373-Domestic-Witchery-Examiner~y2010m3d17-New-Jersey-State-Board-of-Education-approves-PaganWiccan-holidays-for-the-20102011-school-year