Board votes against Bible elective

The Huntington Beach Union High School district finally voted definitively on a proposal to mandate a Bible as Literature elective in its curriculum. But most said they only wanted to vote so they could reject it for good.

School board members voted 4-1 against the proposal, which had been brought up in various ways for more than a year. Only member Matthew Harper, who asked for it to be placed on the agenda at every meeting since last summer, voted yes.

Those who voted no said the district’s curriculum committee had already nixed the idea twice, partially for lack of interest among teachers.

“This is a mandate, and this board does not mandate electives,” Trustee Susan Henry said. “Electives need to be allowed to percolate up from the school sites, and have interest voiced. ... It’s been a year of it coming back, and I think it needs to be put to rest.”

But Harper countered by asking for more scrutiny of the committee, saying it had no clear accountability to the public or the board.

“There should be some line of accountability and authority that can be traced back to voters,” he said.

The debate drew several residents and nonresidents to speak on both sides. Teaching the Bible as literature has teachers coming down on one side or another in matters of interpretation, Rabbi Rebecca Schorr, Fountain Valley, said in public comments.

“I believe with perfect faith that the Bible does not belong in public schools,” she said. “All translation from an original language is widely open to the interpretation of the translator. It is nearly impossible to separate theology from any rendering of the text.”

Huntington Beach High School parent Rose Molina said teaching the Bible was a no-brainer — her daughter had already been assigned some passages as summer reading for honors English.

“This is required for her to pass the class to do the assignments,” she said. “This is great. She’s reading ‘East of Eden.’ She wouldn’t even understand it without the preliminary work.”

But Henry said a whole class wasn’t worth the trouble. The district’s teachers are good enough to know how to teach the context of books, she added.

“Our teachers are well equipped to share background information,” she said.

“In order to create a level playing field in classroom you have to give that background. This class would not accomplish those things ahead of time.”