Jurupa Valley, CA
A Southern California school district is allowing some Sikh students to carry an article of their faith—a dagger-like blade called a kirpan.
At least three high school students in the Jurupa Unified School District will be allowed to wear the approximately 2-inch knives at school after their parents agreed to solder them or sew them into the sheaths so they cannot be used as weapons, Superintendent Elliott Duchon said.
The kirpan is one of five sacred articles that baptized Sikhs must wear.
"This is an issue of religious freedom and of faith," said Mary Burns, the district's longest-serving school board member. "Who am I to deny what is an article of faith of a 600-year-old religion?"
However, board member Brian Schafer argued that edged kirpans should be banned and only kirpan-shaped pendants should be permitted in school. Schafer said he planned to ask for a public school board vote on the issue.
"If I were a parent and I knew someone was wearing one of these daggers, I would worry about my child's safety and the Sikh students' safety," Schafer said.
Safe Havens, International
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