BY KARISSA MILLER
The Iredell-Statesville Schools Board of Education on Monday will consider a request to display a poster that features the Ten Commandments, U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights in district schools.
After gaining permission from the rest of the board, Brian Sloan contacted a North Iredell High School grad to help him design a “Founding Documents” poster.
“He’s got a top-notch design team and after that he created this,” Sloan said at last week’s Committee of the Whole meeting while holding up a poster that displayed documents in historical order.
“I think all of these made major contributions to our country and our people,” Sloan said. “I don’t think we, as a board, should force our students to read these, study these or memorize these documents. I would like these documents to readily visible.”
“Maybe it will remind us all of where we come from — especially now,” he added.
Sloan said some people may question including the Ten Commandments, but he argues that they are part of the foundation of the state and national governments.
“North Carolina state law lists the Ten Commandments by name. It’s okay to display them if it’s done in a certain manner. I believe that this display is well within the letter of the law,” Sloan said.
If approved by the board, the poster would be displayed in the school’s entrance foyer or library.
The posters will be paid for through private donations and business in the community, Sloan said.
“I see little to no cost to the school system,” he explained.
Board member Mike Kubiniec voiced his support for the posters.
“We have to teach those young people what those words mean and who they were written for,” he said.
Board member Doug Knight said that he liked the poster design, but said it was hard to read.
“This would be to draw an interest to it and the kids can research it themselves,” Sloan said.
Knight said he understands that the poster meets state law, but he questioned if it meets federal law.
“If we posted it and there were lawsuits, where would that money come from?” he asked.
The district would likely have to use funds from its local budget, which pays for teacher assistants, to pay attorney’s fees if the board is sued, Knight added.
“Our actions now cause other actions to exist,” he added.
School board attorney Dean Shatley said he’s not aware of any North Carolina school system that has any type of historical document poster on permanent or temporary display in their schools.
Chairman Bill Howell said that the board will vote on the matter during its meeting on Monday. The meeting begins at 6 p.m. at the Career Academy and Technical School, 350 Old Murdock Road in Troutman.
“This will be a voting item, and the board will show how they feel Monday night,” Howell said.
It should have never been taken out of schools.
Amen. The evil began when God was taken out of our schools.
Sir, why do you want to push your views and values on others? If you don’t want other religions to post their core values in each classroom then you are not supporting ALL students like you should. Remember why you were elected to the Iredell Statesville school board. It was to represent all students and their interests. Be fair and just.
These things are already on display in the public schools.
In my school here in Iredell County public schools, these items are present: a shrine to democracy with major American documents, popular Bible classes that are full and study not just the 10 Commandments but also the entirety of the Bible, and the pledge of allegiance recited every morning, and active Christian based clubs. So all the citizens who fret and fear that these are not present are being lied to by politicians because in Iredell Statesville Schools these are present. So God and Flag are well represented in my school and I know other schools in my he district are similar. So don’t just take a politician’s word for it.
More MAGA grandstanding to distract from their incompetence at their actual job.
The poster will be thee for the ones that want to read it. If you don’t want to, no one is making you. I just don’t know why anyone would protest this.
The 10 commandments are from the Hebrew Bible. In other words, their origin is the Torah. Judaism. Also present in the Koran. Islam. Christianity came after. So those books should be present too.
You answered yourself. Amazing, if the Ten Commandments are part of all those listed … then by golly it is.
I will again recite the pledge once there is “Liberty & Justice for ALL.”
Thank you, Brian! We appreciate all you do!
The 10 Commandments should NEVER be in a public school. The separation of church & state.
So many things happening here in our schools & once again staff’s time is being taken up on a topic that has already been addressed many times. US history is taught in every school. Folks need to be careful; the laws are clear. Who will pay for all the displays for every other religion in the world? Interesting these same two board members can’t focus on what a board member is supposed to do. I sure hope everyone is ready to vote the three off in 2026.
Also, anyone who doesn’t know that the Bill of Rights are the first 10 amendments in the Constitution has no business sitting on any school board.
The folks that elected these morons should stop voting until they have a grasp on basic history of the country they claim to love.
Yes, yes, yes; By God Almighty & in memory & respect to the Founders of this Great Nation, do it!!
The Constitution and Bill of Rights should be where the Civics lessons and history classes are taught.
In a public, seperation of church and state government=run and funded school as directed in the First Amendment that, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,” the Ten Commandments have no business being in a public school or any school paid for with taxpayer money. Nor do the Bible, the Torah, The Koran, The Dhammapada, The Tibetan Book of the Dead, The Rigveda, The Analects of Confucius, The Book of Mormon, The Talmud or any other sacred book of religion other than what impact it may have had in history. A lot of murder and desecration has taken place in the world by the misconceived perceptions of the religious, the zealots seeking to misconstrue their sacred texts in self-serving, evil ways.
Government has no business being in the propagation of any religion nor atheism. Nor does religion have the right to influence a government for its own means at the risk of all society.
And, yes, I love Jesus and love what he taught and practiced — not the BS that is being used as weaponry by supposed Christians that would crucify him all over again as well as innocents, neighbors and strangers for their own selfish, power plays and purpose … not to glorify God.
The utter lies, violence and hatred that are being propagated and parroted by once (and many times still) good, smart people with common sense, respect for themselves and others and putting their hope in a wannabe dictator, deceitful and false prophet boggles my mind and is truly disturbing to me.
I can see it coming now. May God bless you anyway.
I pray it happens!
Why is it that these religious people always want the Ten Commandments when Jesus told us the Greatest commandments are to love God and love your neighbor as yourself? Are these Greatest commandments not the most important? What about The Beatitudes? Are Jesus’s teachings and the New Testament irrelevant to these religious teachers? This country was founded on freedom of religion but it is alarming that Jesus’s teachings of love are never the priority of supposedly “Christian” people. One wonders.
Good.
They really need to teach kids about how government works, as well as how to maintain a budget. It’s sobering to see college grads who are unable to balance a checkbook or maintain a budget.