Carson school board eyes restrictions on pagan symbols

The Carson City School Board of Trustees may be asked Tuesday to look into allegations that students wearing pagan symbols to Carson High School are having them taken away.

Carson High School Principal Fred Perdomo, who said he checked with administrators about the claims, is not aware pagan symbols have been taken from students.

"Normally, anything that is confiscated (by staff) is brought to the deans, and they'll talk to the students about it," he said.

Perdomo said he would only consider removing pagan symbols - like the pentacle - from students when wearing them creates an atmosphere of danger or disturbance. Offensiveness is not a reason for removal.

Perdomo said uses the 1969 Supreme Court case of Tinker vs. Des Moines as a "barometer" for what should be protected as free speech at a school.

"We had a student several years ago that wore a swastika one day on an East German army coat," he said. "We took him aside and told him, 'You have to the right to do it, but if creates a disturbance or if your safety comes into jeopardy, then we're going to have to ask you not to wear it to school.'"

In the Tinker vs. Des Moines case, administration at an Iowa school suspended three students for wearing black arm bands to protest the Vietnam War. The Supreme Court found that because the students were not disruptive and the arm bands did not cause a disturbance, they should be allowed to wear the bands to school as symbolic speech protected under the First Amendment.

"If it creates a disturbance, then it's not allowed," said Perdomo paraphrasing the case. "So if someone wants to wear a symbol (to school) that may be offensive to somebody until it becomes a disturbance, the Supreme Court says they're allowed to wear it."

The vice president of the Pagan Alliance of Nevada, who did not want her name used, said she plans to speak during the public-comment period at Tuesday's board meeting. She wants to provide background on paganism to the school board and share her feelings that students wearing pagan symbols at Carson High should have that freedom of expression protected.

No specific allegations were available.

The pentacle, a common pagan symbol, is a five-point star surrounded by a circle. The five points represent earth, fire, air, water and spirit, and the circle represents unity. The pentacle has one point up and two points down. The inverted form, two points up and one point down, is sometimes associated with satanism.

The word pagan comes from the Latin word "paginus," meaning rural or from-the-country, and implies animistic or polytheistic beliefs.

"Our religion has been so misunderstood for so long," said the vice president of the Pagan Alliance of Nevada. "People go to their churches and their pastors and say that pagans are devil worshippers because they don't know who we are."

"We don't worship the devil," she said. "For years, we've been fighting that. We're just like everybody else, except we have more than one god or goddess."

But one form of free speech that is definitely prohibited at Carson High is gang symbols.

"(Gang-related symbols) have already been proven to be a problem as far as safety and discipline goes," Perdomo said. "And we have (the ban) written into our discipline code."

-- Contact reporter Maggie O'Neill at moneill@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1219.

If you go

WHAT: Carson City School Board meeting, open to the public

WHEN: 7 p.m. Tuesday

WHERE: Sierra Room of the Community Center, 851 E. William St.

CALL: 283-2100