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CROMWELL - The door to the Stone Church was closed Thursday, but the hearts of everyone inside were open.
Six members of the Fort Wayne chapter of the NAACP came to the church to discuss issues of diversity with Wawasee Schools superintendent Mark Stock and other officials.
Stock invited the NAACP after a worksheet related to the Ku Klux Klan surfaced at Syracuse Elementary in April. The worksheet was brought to Stock's attention and removed from the classroom, but the ensuing uproar - which included a Klan rally at the school May 16 - left many in the community angry and hurt.
Stock said his goal for the meeting was to "get the resources and strategies necessary to look to the future for training and education in the district."
Liz Dobynes of the NAACP suggested a multi-cultural program would benefit Wawasee. Such a program would include training in:
• Awareness - Would emphasize, among other things, developing a positive self-image in all students and the importance of co-existing despite differences.
• Sensitivity - Would "examine the educational attitudes and practices of all WCS staff to make certain that they devote equal attention to the different needs, talents and culture of each child."
• Explanation of Cultures - Would "infuse specific content into WCS curriculum that promotes tolerance, understanding, appreciation and cooperation among people of different cultural groups."
Dobynes commended the Wawasee community for efforts it has already made. "They have a lot of things in place ... they're definitely doing the right thing," she said.
Among the strides Wawasee has made within the last year was establishing a Minority Issues Task Force and hiring an English as a second language coordinator, Jose Vazquez.
Vazquez, who also serves on the task force, was pleased with how the meeting went. "It was eye opening - it was something we need," he said. "By discussing this issue, we can find some solution to this problem."
Underlying the problem, he said is "a lack of sensitivity - not thinking of the consequences of what we say, of what we do."
In addition to training in the schools, Vazquez believes efforts may also be made in the community. "We can work through churches, through pastors, because they are centers of influence," he said. "They can do a lot to help people in the community become aware of how to be more sensitive."
Dobynes and Pastor Raines, an NAACP board member, supported Vazquez's assessment. "Don't let the church be quiet," said Dobynes. "When the church is quiet, anything goes on."
"Prayer is something all of us can come together with ... God's people coming together to pray can have a positive impact," said Raines.
He said prayers should also be offered for Lera Reinholt, the teacher who made the worksheet. "She didn't do it out of malice. There needs to be forgiveness from the community," he said.
Pastor Sarah Tuttle, who opened her church for the meeting, was "thrilled" with how it turned out. "I expected it to be positive, but it even surpassed my expectations," she said. "Anytime people sit down and are willing to share, that's positive.
"I saw some growth and understanding, a lot of creative ideas to go forward with," she said.
Jeff Van Drie, chairman of the Minorities Issues Task Force, said the school and the community must look for positive solutions and common ground - not scapegoats. "Even though they have a diversity of opinions on specific events, we should pull together in support of the administration and school board in making positive changes that are necessary for all people of the area to feel part of the community," he said.
Patron Rosie Belin said everyone at the meeting was "thinking on the same level" and that the lessons learned by Wawasee could benefit others. "Other communities can take a look at our school system and learn," she said.
She believes more involvement by minority parents would help foster understanding. "We might have different hair, skin color, religion, but if (more people) would get involved everyone could see that we're just the same," she said.
Such a meeting has been a long time in coming for Belin. "You fight a long, hard battle and nobody listens because you seem like a lone person. To see them come together about overwhelms me," she said.
Stock knows there are a lot of hurt feelings - people in the community are hurt because the perception of them is not completely accurate, and the teacher has been hurt because her mistake that had good intentions ended up hurting people, he said. But he believes people left the meeting with a feeling of working together, and "the healing that comes out of all of this will make our community much better.
"We do have to be more careful about what we do and say. This will help us do that," he said.
Dobynes praised Stock and the school system for their willingness to address the problem. "They were gracious enough to accept what we brought," she said. "Now they have to test the community to see if they will put it into practice."
