Oct 31, 2008 6:51 pm US/Eastern
Boy Sent Home From School For Dressing As Jesus
Eighth Grader Told His Halloween Costume Was Offensive, Distracting
PARAMUS, N.J. (CBS) ―
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Alex Woinski was sent home from school for dressing up as Jesus for Halloween.
CBS
A Paramus middle school student was sent home Friday after he came to school dressed up as Jesus for Halloween.
For a few hours, Alex Woinski was the messiah of West Brook Middle School, but like the real Jesus, Woinski was condemned, so to speak.
"Sort of like a new remake of what supposedly happened," Woinski told CBS 2.
Decked out in sandals, a robe, fake beard and thorns, the 13-year-old joined 500 other students at his school's Halloween celebration, and on this day, he was the chosen one - to go home.
"It was offensive to some students," Woinski said, when asked what school officials told him the reason for being sent home was.
Woinski says he wore the costume because friends say his long hair makes him a Jesus lookalike, and were not offended by his costume.
The school says thes costume was a disruption and denies its religious nature had anything to do with it.
"I don't think I overreacted," Principal Joan Broe told CBS 2.
Broe said too many students were drawn to the costume, and that was reason enough.
"Children were [asking], where is the boy who is Jesus Christ?" she said. "It was disrupting the education process."
Woinski's parents agree it was political correctness gone amok.
"I think the whole freedom of speech and expression has definitely had a damper put on it, and this is proof of that," says Kim Woinski, Alex's mother.
But it won't put a damper on Woinski's trick or treating. This Jesus has been resurrected for Friday night.
Woinski has developed an interest in religion. His mother is Catholic and his father is Jewish. He recently celebrated his Bar Mitzvah and his also studying Bible scripture.
His school says this was the first time anyone had ever dressed up like Jesus. They say other students were ordered to alter their costumes because they were deemed inappropriate.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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