Obstacles Placed Before FCA Clubs in Two Rural Locales
by Jim Brown and Jody Brown
September 20, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A Kansas school district is being sued in federal court for denying official recognition to a Fellowship of Christian Athletes club. The district's superintendent claims recognizing the FCA would be an unconstitutional government endorsement of religion. At the same time, a school district near the Texas Gulf Coast is making life similarly difficult for its local FCA chapter. Officials with the Pleasanton Unified School District, located 70 miles south of Kansas City, Kansas, are denying equal access to the campus chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes -- despite the fact the club was officially recognized by Superintendent Tim Conrad's predecessor. But now the group is not being allowed to access the morning announcements to publicize their events and to meet at the same time other non-curricular clubs are meeting. The FCA chapter also is not permitted to conduct fundraisers, to use school vehicles for trips, or be included in the school yearbook.
Joel Oster is senior legal counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), which is representing the FCA. He says the district is violating the federal Equal Access Act -- a statute he notes has been upheld by the highest court in the U.S.
"So not only do you have a statute, but it's been upheld by the Supreme Court. And you already have many circuit courts -- for instance, the Ninth Circuit in the Prince case, just as recently as 2002, saying the Equal Access Act applies to the rights and privileges of being a student club," Oster points out. "So this law is very well settled, and I am astonished that the school district is persisting in discriminating against our clients."
In a press release, the Arizona-based legal firm says almost a year ago the FCA club requested permission to hold an after-school rally, but was told it would be charged a fee to hold the rally because it was not an officially recognized campus club. Oster says it is wrong to charge the FCA club a fee in such matters while giving a "free pass" to other student groups.
The ADF attorney contends the school district is both engaging in blatant anti-Christian discrimination and displaying ignorance of the U.S. Constitution -- "though we did send them a letter where we fully explained what the law is on this issue, we cited the Equal Access Act, we cited all the courts that have interpreted the act, and we asked for equal treatment," notes Oster. "So they can't really say that they did not know the law, because we told them the law."
The lawsuit was filed after the district refused to respond to the club's further requests for recognition and ignored communications sent by ADF. It alleges the district's "policies and actions have chilled, and will chill, the exercise of First Amendment rights by other individuals and organizations." ADF is seeking a preliminary and permanent injunction restraining the district fro further discrimination against the FCA, as well as compensatory damages. The case is McKee v. Pleasanton Unified School District and was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas.
Meanwhile, another FCA club -- this one in Texas -- is facing similar roadblocks. According to the Mississippi-based Center for Law & Policy (CLP), Hamshire-Fannett High School southwest of Beaumont has refused to permit the school yearbook to refer to the campus FCA club, even though club information has appeared in the yearbook for the past 38 years. The principal, states the CLP, says the school "has an obligation not to sponsor religion."
The CLP reports it will be representing 12th-grader Will Navarre, president of the campus FCA chapter, in challenging the school's alleged violation of federal law, which the legal group says requires schools to treat religious clubs just as they do other non-curriculum related clubs.
