In reply to Anne Lee.

Ms. Lee, I hope your concerns about your child's school get addressed. If my child's public school claimed to be addressing "spiritual" issues, my first question would be what in the heck do they mean by that? As I said, public schools should leave God and religion to the home and church, period. When I was teaching, SEL dealt with social and emotional skills, as the name suggests. For example, a kid with anger issues would be taught ways to cool off before getting in trouble, that sort of thing. Strategies that kids often don't learn in dysfunctional homes. My main problem with Joy Pullman's article is that it is disingenuous. Her other writings show that she has written off public education altogether, and only wants to use SEL as "one more thing" to fill Christian parents with dread and deter them from sending their children to public schools, not to improve public schools in any way. I hope your situation gets resolved in a positive way--good luck to you.