The newest member of the Dennis-Yarmouth Regional School Committee has presented Superintendent Carol Woodbury with an ultimatum to scrap Calmer Choice, the mindfulness-based stress-reduction program offered to elementary and middle school students as part of their school day.

The California-based National Center for Law and Policy sent a 24-page legal memorandum to school officials Tuesday on behalf of parent and school committee member Michelle LaRowe Conover, giving the district until Feb. 14 to agree “to suspend and not renew any and all contracts with Calmer Choice,” the organization hired by the school.

The center contends the mindfulness program is based on Buddhist beliefs, which it says violates the constitutional tenets of religious freedom and separation of church and state.

“Parents are being misled,” Dean Broyles, the center's president and chief legal counsel, wrote in a statement accompanying the memorandum. “Even purportedly ‘secular’ (Mind-Based Stress Reduction) programs have been documented as having a religiously transformative impact, acting as a gateway to Buddhism and a Buddhist worldview. MSBR simply does not belong in public schools.”

The National Center for Law and Policy is a “nonprofit legal defense organization which focuses on the protection and promotion of religious freedom, the sanctity of life, traditional marriage, parental rights and other civil liberties,” according to its website.

Asked whether the center would sue the district, Broyles wrote in an email that “We expect the district to read the letter carefully, comply with the law and protect the health and safety of children, but we are exploring all legal options.”

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