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Revision as of 21:42, 3 October 2006 by 83.250.120.237 (talk) (→Argumentation by Waldorf methods charter schools and PLANS)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)People for Legal and Non-Sectarian Schools (PLANS) is a "whistle-blower" group, based principally in San Francisco, U.S. and on the Web, that campaigns against the public funding of Waldorf methods charter schools. The organization claims that Waldorf education has an occult spiritual basis with origins in Anthroposophy, and that Waldorf schools obscure this by remaining silent about Waldorf education's esoteric educational theory with prospective parents.
The group was founded in 1995 by former Waldorf parents and became a California non-profit corporation in 1997. Its secretary is sound engineer and skeptic activist Dan Dugan. In 2000, Dugan reported 44 members.
Mission statement
The groups describes its mission as to
- "Provide parents, teachers, and school boards with views of Waldorf education from outside the cult of Rudolf Steiner."
- "Expose the illegality of public funding for Waldorf school programs in the US."
- "Litigate against schools violating the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment in the US."
Charter schools lawsuit
In February 1998, PLANS brought a lawsuit against two California public schools districts, Sacramento City Unified School District and Twin Ridges Elementary School District, that had funded two Waldorf-methods schools, one a charter school and one a magnet school. PLANS argued that because of Waldorf education's basis in anthroposophy, publicly-financed Waldorf methods charter schools are in violation of the "church and state" establishment clause of the First Amendment.
The organization asserted that the use of Waldorf teaching methods at public charter schools, using them without arguing for their use out of anthroposophy, violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment because Waldorf methods are inseparable from its underpining philosophy, Anthroposophy, that Anthroposophy is actually a religion, and that as a result public schools which adopt Waldorf methods or practices are promoting religion in violation of the US Constitution. PLANS argued in this law suit that a primary purpose and primary effect of the operation of the two Waldorf-methods schools by the school districts was "to advance religion, including the religious doctrines of Anthroposophy". Today, there are 19 Waldorf methods charter schools in California.
In 1999, the Court ruled against the contention, finding that the two school districts targeted have a secular, non-religious purpose for implementing Waldorf teaching methods in their schools, but allowed the case to proceed on the charge that those programs may have the unintended consequence of directly and substantially advancing religion to such an extent that it violates the U.S. Constitution.
The trial was scheduled on September 12, 2005 and was expected to run for sixteen days. The presiding judge determined two issues which were to be decided in the trial. The first issue was to determine whether anthroposophy is a religion for Establishment Clause purposes - the defendants contended it was not. The second issue, which required first an affirmative ruling that anthroposophy is a religion for Establishment Clause purposes, would decide whether the public schools in those two districts were promoting anthroposophy, now viewed as a religion, to such an extent that it violated the U.S. Constitution.
The trial convened as scheduled, but ended after thirty minutes during which PLANS was ordered to show an offer of proof they had evidence to present on the issues to be decided, and failed to do so. Their attorney admitted to the court they could not meet their burden of proof, and could offer no witnesses and only one piece of documentary evidence on the religion issue to argue before the court. Arguments were heard, but no evidence was presented at the trial. The court determined that PLANS failed to produce any legally-admissible evidence, ruled in favor of the public schools, and ordered PLANS to pay costs.
PLANS is appealing this ruling. The appeal claims that due to an earlier ruling before the court, in which two witnesses PLANS intended to testify at trial were disallowed, PLANS was left with no qualified witnesses able to give evidence that anthroposophy was a religion. This earlier ruling resulted from pretrial motions submitted six months prior to trial. The appeal also argues the court ruled improperly when it refused to allow PLANS to enter their one piece of documentary evidence into evidence.
PLANS contends in their appeal that the two disallowed witnesses were irreplaceable to their case. These witnesses PLANS argued vital to their own case were first disclosed by the defendants as expert witnesses who would testify against PLANS in the case.
As a result of the pretrial motions, the judge ruled:
- the plaintiff, PLANS, could not use the defendants' expert witnesses to testify as experts in their own case in chief,
- the plaintiff also failed in its duty to disclose to the defendants their intention to call these individuals to testify as percipient witnesses prior to the court's deadline for such witness disclosure, and PLANS was thus prohibited from calling them to give percipient testimony
PLANS argues in the appeal that the timely disclosure rule cited in the judge's dismissal was not in effect yet at the outset of the case in 1998, and argues the witnesses were fully disclosed under the applicable rules.
The appeal also argues that the court erred in disallowing attempts to introduce as evidence a particular book which one school in the suit purchased for their educational reference library. PLANS had no witnesses prepared to offer foundational testimony at trial for the evidence, and as a result it too was disallowed, the judge describing it as "rank hearsay". In its appeal, PLANS argues that the school's earlier interrogatory admission to the purchase of this book served as an "adoptive admission", and as such no further foundation was necessary prior to introducing it as testimony in evidence at trial. The Defendants dispute the validity of each of these claims in their Appellee Brief.
Ultimately, the only fully qualified expert witness to be heard on the question whether anthroposophy is a religion would have been Douglas Sloan, a witness slated to testify for the defendants. Sloan is a Columbia University Professor Emeritus of Education, adjunct Professor of Religion and Education at the Union Theological Seminary and The Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City and former Director of the Masters Degree Program in Waldorf Education at Sunbridge College, New York.
Since PLANS presented no legally acceptable testimony or other evidence, the defense won the case without calling their witnesses at trial. However, Sloan did submit his testimony rejecting the assertion that anthroposophy was a religion in a declaration. The judge accepted this submission when PLANS filed a motion asking the court to decide the issue prior to trial and declare anthroposophy to be a religion, a motion rejected by the Court.
Case history
After its first ruling in 1999, the U.S. District Court -- Eastern District of California has issued rulings on the case in 2001, 2004 and 2005: See Legal transcripts on Wikisource.
- In 2001, the Court dismissed the case. A legal precedent set earlier in a similar case in New York, though not related to Waldorf education, led the Court to conclude that PLANS lacked a basis to claim taxpayer standing in the case. After an appeal by PLANS, the 9th Circuit Appellate Court in February 2003 reversed the decision on taxpayer standing by the lower court, allowing the case to proceed towards trial.
- In May 2004, PLANS filed a motion for summary judgment, or, in the alternative, summary adjudication, requesting that the Court rule that anthroposophy is a religion, based on material presented by PLANS. But the Court did not accept these arguments, and on 15 November 2004 denied the motion, stating that "triable issues of material fact exist as to whether anthroposophy is a religion". The Court also provided a new opportunity for both sides to declare witnesses and evidence, with a deadline of January 2005 for disclosure of these.
- In April 2005, the Court issued an order outlining the trial issues and the evidentiary and procedural guidelines for the trial, scheduled for September 12, 2005. The court separated the issues, stating that it would be first necessary to try the question of whether anthroposophy was a religion, and secondly, whether anthroposophy was present in the schools. The order denied PLANS eleven witnesses, for failure by its attorney to make timely disclosure to Defendants, and 101 of PLANS' exhibits, as a result of discovery sanctions.
History of the public activity of the group
In May 1997, PLANS Inc. started campaigning against the addition of Waldorf methods in public schools when parents and concerned citizens began picketing outside Waldorf methods schools in Sacramento and Marysville, CA. Concerns were made vocal among parents, teachers and anti-Waldorf activists that Waldorf engages in what seemed like witchcraft or pagan rituals and practices, and these rumors were soon reported in the media as well.
At Oak Ridge Elementary, the program was being bankrolled in the 1997 year by a $235,000 federal grant. Funding in the 1995-96 school year totaled $238,000, much of it used to begin training the school's faculty in the Waldorf approach. 11 out of 26 teachers were expected to transfer out of Oak Ridge - some because they refused to take Waldorf teacher training and some because they disagreed with Waldorf philosophy.
In July 1997, an evangelical Christian legal organization, the Pacific Justice Institute (PJI) secured a grant from the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) in support of pending litigation by PLANS. The application was motivated by alleged "Wicca" based practices in one of the schools and complemented with a video of a News story on the picketing.
In August 1997 Dan Dugan started to build a section at his personal website, that was later developed into the website of the group . He is also the moderator of PLANS' open discussion list on Topica that attracts both critics and supporters of Waldorf education . The discussion list is archived topica.com and at the PLANS website.
The discussion list includes discussion of:
- The Waldorf curriculum.
- The role of anthroposophy in Waldorf education.
- The Waldorf science curriculum.
- Anthroposophical approaches to science and medicine.
- Sharing of experiences in Waldorf schools (focusing on negative experiences).
- Anthroposophy and philosophy.
February 11, 1998, PLANS filed a federal lawsuit against two school districts operating two public Waldorf methods elementary schools, the Sacramento City Unified School District and the Twin Ridges Elementary School District. PLANS alleged that the schools violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution by establishing Waldorf schools.
In July 2000, the President and Vice-President of PLANS, Debra Snell and Lisa Ercolano,founded a confidential list and support group for "Waldorf Survivors" who have had negative experiences related to Waldorf Schools, Anthroposophy, Camphill and other anthroposophical initiatives. .
In December 2000, the President and Secretary of PLANS hired a private detective to attend an advent spiral ceremony in a rented hall for K-3rd graders from Yuba River School, one of the public charter schools targeted in PLANS' lawsuit. Children were videotaped raising their arms and singing "down with darkness, up with light." The goal of the action was to give evidence to school boards considering support of Waldorf methods at their schools that the use of Waldorf teaching methods at public charter schools is religious .
Criticism of PLANS
In 1999, the Law firm Pacific Justice Institute (PJI), that in 1997 had used allegations of witchcraft and satanism at Waldorf schools to apply for money on PLANS' behalf from the evangelical organization Alliance Defense Fund to finance the initiation of its law suit, in a Press Release claimed that the (secret) agenda of Waldorf education is to train the pupils at Waldorf schools to become the future leaders of the world. The following year, Lisa Ercolano, a journalist in Baltimore, in cooperation with Dugan then continued to cultivate the claim on his mailing list. As a follow up the claim continued to be cultivated also by others up to April 2003 on Dugan's mailing list. Ercolano was later made Vice President of PLANS. The most vocal critic of PLANS on the internet is the group Americans for Waldorf Education.
Argumentation by Waldorf methods charter schools and PLANS
Public waldorf methods (charter) schools claim they should be able to enjoy public funding. PLANS claims public Waldorf methods schools that state they have been formed not to violate the U.S. Constitution, have religious underpinnings. Private Waldorf schools have religious festivals and observe religious holidays. In public Waldorf methods charter schools, such activities that could violate the U.S. Constitution are not always avoided. Both public and private Waldorf schools have pictures of Raphael's Madonna and Child on the walls of the kindergarten classes, and children say morning verses that address God, by some (including Steiner) described as prayers. In public Waldorf methods schools in the U.S., "God" has been removed from the verse and replaced with "the Sun" to avoid violation of the U.S. Constitution.
PLANS also claims that not only private, but also public Waldorf methods schools are Anthroposophical institutions. According to PLANS, public Waldorf teachers are required in most cases to take Waldorf teacher training and read works almost exclusively by Rudolf Steiner, the founder of both Waldorf education and Anthroposophy, in which tenets of Anthroposophy are discussed in detail and are the focus of the Waldorf teacher training.
According to a court statement by Betty Staley, the director of high-school teacher education at the Rudolf Steiner College, references to spirituality were removed from the public Waldorf teachers’ training materials to meet state standards when it was started. This is clearly not the case however, as it is exactly the Waldorf philosophy that many teachers object to when this training is offered to them. One teacher who worked at the Oak Ridge school in the early 1990s, but then went on to work at another school, Oak Park school, when it was turned into the John Morse Waldorf magnet school, said in an interview that Steiner’s philosophy was alluded to during her Waldorf methods teacher training, and that teachers who wanted to learn more could pay for their own classes, but most of the teachers at John Morse did not pursue any anthroposophical training to become public Waldorf methods teachers.
PLANS claims Anthroposophy has at its basis esoteric Christianity. Of the 350 published works by Steiner, most of them transcripts of lectures, one part describes spiritual aspects of religious traditions, including Judaism, Christianity and Buddism. In one lecture series, "The Fifth Gospel" Steiner describes events, that according to him are based on clairvoyant observations, and not described in the original four Gospels. Other books, lectures or lecture series by Steiner are "Christianity as Mystical Fact and the Mysteries of Antiquity", "The Bible and Wisdom", "The Apocalypse of St. John", "The Easter Festival in relation to the Mysteries", "Esoteric Christianity and the mission of Christian Rosenkreutz", and "The four Seasons and the Archangels".
PLANS claims these works are the foundation of Anthroposophy. According to PLANS, this is evidence that Anthroposophy is a religion and means that Waldorf methods (charter) schools should not receive public funding. Whether or not Anthroposophy is a religion and whether or not public Waldorf methods charter schools not only are based in Anthroposophy, but also mediate this to the pupils to such an extent that it violates the U.S. Constitution is what PLANS has asked a court to decide.
Waldorf Master Teacher talks about PLANS
During a Waldorf conference in 1999, to which Mr. Dugan had been invited to present his criticism of Waldorf education, Master Waldorf teacher Eugene Schwartz, spoke favorably in a lecture about the need for watchdog groups like PLANS and directly addressed PLANS secretary Dan Dugan who was present at the lecture. Some of what he said in the lecture:
"Dan has not created the problem: he is casting a harsh and terrible light on it--but he's not the cause. The cause is already there in the Waldorf movement. He's just bringing it, in the worst way possible, to consciousness."
Shortly after this lecture, this master teacher was removed from his position as head of Waldorf teacher training and took a position as a Waldorf teacher at a nearby Waldorf school.
References
- PLANS' home page
- What is a Waldorf Methods Education? Twin Ridges Elementary School.
- Public schools teaching occult religion? Worldnet Daily News October 1999
- School is teaching witchcraft, critics say Sacramento Bee, May 16, 1997
- Editorial: The attack on Oak Ridge Sacramento Bee, June 10, 1997
- ALLIANCE DEFENSE FUND GRANT REQUEST APPLICATION by Pacific Justice Institute dated 18 July 1997, sent to ADF.
- PLANS web site
- Waldorf-critics discussion list
- Waldorf-Anthroposophy-Steiner Survivors Only" Mailing List
- Posting by Snell 22 December 2000 on the waldorf-critics mailing list
- Americans for Waldorf Education
- Teacher Training Reading List
- Schooled in spirituality Article in Sacramento News and Reviews by Chrisanne Beckner, February 03, 2005
- Christianity as Mystical Fact and the Mysteries of Antiquity, lecture series edited by Rudolf Steiner into book.
- The Bible and Wisdom. A Lecture By Rudolf Steiner Hamburg, December 5, 1908. From shorthand report unrevised by the lecturer.
- The Easter Festival in relation to the Evolution of the Mysteries Four Lectures by Steiner given in Dornach, Switzerland 19th to 22nd April, 1924, unrevised by the lecturer.
- Esoteric Christianity and the Mission of Christian Rosenkreutz Thirteen lectures September 17, 1911 to December 18, 1912, unrevised by the lecturer.
- Waldorf Education--For Our Times Or Against Them? by Eugene Schwartz
- Spotlight on Anthroposophy by Sharon Lombard, PLANS activist
External links
- PLANS web site
- Schooled in spirituality Article about Waldorf methods schools and PLANS litigation, Sacramento News and Review, February 03, 2005.