By Jennifer Mrozowski
The Cincinnati Enquirer

While adults were fighting in court last week over what religious symbols can be placed on Fountain Square, students across the Tristate were playing with dreidels, making marshmallow menorahs and singing songs about Christmas and Kwanzaa.

Teachers are grappling with how to celebrate the holidays in public schools without advocating or discriminating against certain religions.

"Christmas concerts" are out and "holiday programs" are in, while schools opt for snowflake decorations in place of symbols tied to specific religious holidays. Some administrators even research the number of cultures represented in their classrooms before they create their holiday concert bill.

Yet some districts, sensitive to the fact that much of the classic holiday music is faith-based, say they work religious songs into their repertoires without proselytizing. Others incorporate teachings on a medley of religious holidays.

At North Avondale Montessori, students on Friday participated in a Wonderful Winter Music Concert, which incorporated songs and arrangements about Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Christmas.

"The key is inclusion," said Cindi Menefield, principal of North Avondale Montessori. "We conduct research with each teacher about the children. And the parents actually gave the songs for teachers to teach. We did a lot of inclusion so everyone's represented."

The issue of separation of church and state is a lightning rod, as demonstrated by the controversy again this year in which several groups sued to display a religious symbol and allow a volunteer dressed as Santa to hand out fund-raising pamphlets on Fountain Square. City leaders said they would allow only a city-sponsored seasonal display.

Fountain Square has been the center of holiday legal battles since the early 1990s when the Ku Klux Klan first tried to erect a cross there. The U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 29 ruled that a 10-foot-high menorah could be erected on Fountain Square, as sought by a Jewish organization, along with the government-sponsored seasonal display.

Such decisions force school officials to proceed with caution around the holidays.

"We try to be sensitive to the fact there are a number of cultures represented in our school district," said Robert Monroe, music coordinator for the Princeton schools. "And when music is available and appropriate, I think all of us would make a special effort to include different cultures in our programming."

At the Princeton Junior High Holiday Concert Tuesday, the school will do three traditional concert orchestra pieces, such as "Little Drummer Boy," and one called "Three Songs for Hanukkah," a medley of traditional tunes.

But caution doesn't mean banning religious-themed productions, especially classical pieces, some educators say.

In November, Princeton High presented its biennial performance of Handel's "Messiah."

"That is very much a piece of music that has significant religious overtones," Mr. Monroe said. "We approach that not from a point of view that we're proselytizing or endorsing one religion over another. We approach this as a wonderful piece of quality music that is traditionally performed around the holiday season."

Mr. Monroe said he has never had anyone protest the production, and he tries to stay in touch with his students to find out if they are comfortable with the concert.

"Cultural sensitivity is not something that should be confined to December or February, but is a year-round calling," said David Bell, fine arts facilitator at Winton Woods school district.

Mr. Bell has conducted seminars on "Sacred Music in Public Schools" for Kentucky and Michigan educators and the American Choral Directors Association.

He said choral music has been intertwined with the church for centuries, and a large percentage of the surviving body of choral music consists of sacred music.

It wasn't until the 19th century that music found its way into the American public school curriculum, he said, purportedly to build character and "enhance the quality of congregational singing" in the local churches.

"In short, an extensive body of secular music has only been available spanning about 15 percent of the entire history of choral music," he said. That leaves a wealth of faith-based, historical music, which many schools use to teach music.

"The best guidepost in navigating this thorny issue is to, first, be sensitive to students and the community," he said. "Second, communicate openly with parents, students and administrators. Finally, select repertoire that contains overriding educational and musical merit that is part of a balanced program."

A school law guidebook for Cincinnati Public Schools counsels that religious instruction for indoctrination and significant religious displays should not be allowed in the classroom, although holidays can be observed and a discussion of their religious aspect does not violate the separation of church and state.

Students say they appreciate the diversity of cultures.

"We don't have to talk about just Christmas," said Alexandria Robinson, a sixth-grader at North Avondale Montessori who participated in a holiday concert Friday. "We talk about Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. That way no one gets excluded. Everyone gets a taste of their own religion."

Also Friday, kindergartners in Donna Mitchell's class at Washington Park Elementary ate latkes (potato pancakes) and applesauce while learning about Hanukkah.

Upcoming topics are Christmas, followed by Kwanzaa.

Leslie Harper, a fourth-grade teacher at Butlerville Elementary in Little Miami School District, said she steers away from religious symbols, or even Santa Claus decorations that could be linked with Christmas, and she doesn't put up a tree in her room.

Decorations in her room generally consist of snowmen and snowflakes. Other teachers put up garland and strands of lights. Students understand the limits, she said.

"By fourth grade they know what's appropriate and what's not," she said. "They've been told that they don't pray in school, and if they start to talk about Jesus, we steer them away, and we'd do that with any religion."

E-mail jmrozowski@enquirer.com