06-Apr-87 22:54 MST
Sb:  AP   03/30 Horoscopes


   LITTLE EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) -- Aquarians looking for their

star-crossed match won't be getting any more astrological advice at Pinelands
Regional High School. 
   School officials concerned about possible religious conflicts ended the
horoscopes, which had been read over the public address system for about a month
during student council announcements. 
   Superintendent Clement A. Crea said he did not want to halt the horoscopes,
but did so last week on the advice of the school board lawyer after six people
called the school to complain. 
   A horoscope column in the school paper also was canceled. 
   "People objected to the horoscopes because they were astrology-based," Crea
said. 
   "The student government's decision to read the horoscopes had nothing to do
with religious beliefs or Babylonian deities," Crea said, adding that students
were just looking to start the day with some humor. 
   Crea said Monday that some people consider astrology a religion and a public
school cannot support any religion. 
   School officials are "trying to do some brainstorming to see what we can
offer that will provide comic relief in the morning," he said. 
   Jane Cincotta, student government representative, told some Board of
Education members about student disappointment over the decision. 
   School board attorney Milton H. Gelzer explained that state law gives the
board the right to curtail any behavior that might be disruptive, dangerous,
destructive or demeaning. 
   "The use of the horoscope might be infringing on someone's religious
beliefs," Gelzer said. "I don't like to see speech curbed ... but in the
judgment of the administration and school, there is a right to stop it or
terminate it." 
   Miss Cincotta asked Gelzer if the horoscope readings could be protected under
academic freedom rights. 
   "We do not have a democracy in the true sense of the word because you have to
have a sense of order here," Glezer replied. 
   

Copyright 1987 by the Associated Press.  All rights reserved.