On Friday, December 9th, Bill O'Lielly claimed on his "show" that the Plano, TX ISD had banned kids from wearing red and green because they are Christmas colors.
"That's flat-out fascism," he said during a segment on The O'Reilly Factor on the Fox News Channel.
Of course, he was flat-out wrong. The school district has never prohibited wearing green and red colors during Christmas time. They are demanding a retraction. Below the fold is the entire article from today's Dallas Morning News on the subject. So far, O'Lielly has refused to retract his comments, and appears to be hiding behind litigation that has nothing to do with wearing red or green for Christmas. I guess the War on Christmas rages on..
Plano ISD calls for O'Reilly retraction
District says host wrong about red-green policy; attorney defends show
11:29 PM CST on Tuesday, December 13, 2005
By KIM BREEN / The Dallas Morning News
The Plano school district is fighting back against national television and radio talk show host Bill O'Reilly, saying he falsely accused a school of outlawing the colors of Christmas.
Mr. O'Reilly told his television audience Friday that a Plano school told students they could not wear red and green because they are Christmas colors.
"That's flat-out fascism," he said during a segment on The O'Reilly Factor on the Fox News Channel.
School district officials say Plano schools have never prohibited green and red clothing and are demanding a retraction.
DallasNews.com/extra
Bill O'Reilly's comments on the Plano school district
The issue of how to handle the holidays at school has been a hot topic in Plano. For the last year, the school district has been involved in a federal lawsuit that alleges a pattern of free speech and religious rights violations.
Whether the district has banned red and green party supplies has been called into question in court documents, but clothes have not.
Mr. O'Reilly did not acknowledge any error in a prepared statement issued Tuesday: "There is ongoing litigation involving the Plano school district that deals with censoring Christmas and religious expression. As part of this ongoing litigation, issues have been raised about the banning of Christmas items with specific colors and there's a range of items in question."
Richard Abernathy, an attorney for the school district, wrote in an e-mail to Mr. O'Reilly that his fascism "slur smacks of McCarthyism and represents yellow journalism at its best ..."
Mr. Abernathy signed the note, "Merry Christmas."
The district sent e-mails to parents about the issue and posted a statement on its Web site about the "false rumor."
The federal lawsuit, filed a year ago, stems from a December 2003 elementary school party at which a student was not allowed to hand out candy cane pens with a religious message to classmates. Other restrictions have been alleged in the case, which has not yet been decided.
Banned clothing hasn't come up in the case, but napkins have.
Attorneys for the parents have argued in court that the district banned red and green napkins and other supplies from past holiday parties, pointing to a letter that asked parents to bring only white napkins and plates. At a hearing, U.S. District Judge Paul Brown said children would be allowed to bring red or green napkins if they wanted.
Mr. Abernathy said that the district did not ban red and green napkins and that the letter, sent by a parent teacher association, asked for white because it was a winter party and white signifies snow.
"They're not anti-Christmas," he said of the district.
Kelly Shackelford, chief counsel for Liberty Legal Institute, which is representing the parents, said the district's response to Mr. O'Reilly's show is akin to a murder defendant arguing, "I didn't kill THAT person. ... I just find it amazing they're even discussing this. If I were them, I would hide somewhere.
"There are people that obviously miss a fact here and there," Mr. Shackelford said. He said the overall point is correct - that the district has tried to avoid Christmas.
District officials and Mr. Abernathy said no one from Mr. O'Reilly's show has contacted them. But Mr. Shackelford said he was called by someone from the show.
He said he told the show about other issues his side has cited in its case - such as an allegation that students were prohibited from writing "Merry Christmas" in letters to soldiers.
Mr. Abernathy said that the case has often been misrepresented and that he has pointed out mistakes.
"We shouldn't have to defend things that we didn't do," he said.
Mr. Abernathy also said it is hard to compete with a message that goes over national airwaves. "What vehicle do I have to say Bill O'Reilly is flat wrong?"
Plano parent Jim Sperry said parents working on winter parties at his children's elementary school are told to avoid Christmas-specific themes.
"I think it's absurd," he said.
The district needs to set a clear policy about what is allowed so parents can argue if they disagree, he said.
"Clearly people are confused when it comes to Christmas," he said. He said he recently heard Mr. O'Reilly talking about the issue on his radio program. While the district has so many positive things going for it, Mr. Sperry said, it's a shame when a negative story like this reaches a national audience.