School nixes religious valentines

SHEBOYGAN (AP) - A Sheboygan elementary school stopped a second-grader from distributing valentines he made for his classmates because they included a religious message.

Eight-year-old Dexter Thielhelm filled empty water bottles with candy and included a rolled-up Bible verse with the message "Jesus loves you." The valentines never made it into the hands of his classmates. School officials collected them before they could be distributed.

The boy's mother, Melissa Wolf, says Principal Matthew Driscoll told her it was district policy that Christian valentines could not be distributed. Driscoll did not immediately return a call for comment.

The Sheboygan Press reports Wolf says her son was embarrassed and confused that he couldn't distribute the valentines.