Christmas classroom lessons stir debate

State school board members voted Thursday on new social studies standards for public school students, but one addition has raised a concern for some educators — how do you teach kindergarten students about Christmas?

The Georgia Council for the Social Studies, an advocacy group for educators who teach the subject, raised its concerns earlier this year and at a public hearing Thursday.

“How do you teach that so (kindergarten students) understand it?,” Eddie Bennett, a retired social studies teacher and the council’s executive director, said in a telephone interview.