Seattle teacher renames Easter eggs ‘spring spheres’

School children across North America look forward to Easter eggs in April. Students at one Seattle school, however, may only be allowed to call them 'spring spheres.'

Reports about a teacher at a Seattle-area elementary school have drawn the focus of several news outlets in the United States, Canada and the U.K. A teen who volunteered at the school says she was told she had to refer to Easter eggs as 'spring spheres' when she asked the teacher if she could bring them as a special treat for the class.

"When I took them out of the bag, the teacher said, 'Oh look, spring spheres' and all the kids were like 'Wow, Easter eggs.' So they knew," the student said in an interview with MyNorthwest.com, the organization that originally broke the news.

Fox News picked up the story, and seemed outraged at not just the political correctness, but at the teacher's poor grasp of geometry.

When asked about the incident, Seattle Public Schools spokesperson Teresa Wippel said in a Seattle PI blog that she hadn't heard about it. She said that the school board had received plenty of angry emails about the change, prompting them to send out an announcement. The school board stated that they have a Religion and Religious Accommodation' policy which makes a point not to promote any "religious belief or non-belief."

Whether or not the rumours of the 'spring spheres' are true, it does bring the debate about political correctness around the holidays back into the spotlight.

(Photo credit: AFP)