Liberty Counsel Helps After-School Christian Clubs Win Equal Access
by Allie Martin and Jenni Parker
January 12, 2007
(AgapePress) - - A public school district in Ohio has halted what one attorney called blatant discrimination against a Christian after-school club. Now, after receiving a demand letter from the Florida-based legal firm Liberty Counsel, district officials have agreed to stop treating a Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) "Good News Club" unfairly. Officials at Akron City Schools had allowed the Boy Scouts and other after-school programs to hand out information and permission slips to students to take home to their parents. However, requests from CEF, which sponsors local Good News Clubs for children, to hand out its materials were denied. School district administrators said the club could not distribute its literature, even though secular clubs and community organizations were freely allowed to distribute theirs.
David Corry is senior litigation counsel with Liberty Counsel, a nonprofit litigation, education, and policy law firm dedicated to advancing religious liberty and pro-life and pro-family values. He says his legal organization sent a demand letter to the school district, spelling out the Christian club's rights to equal treatment and access under the law.
"As time went on and we began working with the attorneys for the district, we were successful in bringing them around," Corry observes. "And they finally sent us a letter saying that the flyers are perfectly permissible and will be able to be distributed," he says.
The conflict between CEF and Akron City Schools has now been resolved, the Liberty Counsel spokesman notes. This time, he points out, it was not necessary to take the school district to court over its discriminatory practices, as the legal organization has had to do in some other cases involving Good News Clubs.
"From time to time we're able to make some progress and work with local counsel for the school district and point out what the law is and have a receptive ear," Corry explains. "When we're making some progress," he says, "we sometimes will hold off on the lawsuit and see if we can't bring them around."
Milwaukee School District's Discrimination Prompts Legal Intervention
In another recently resolved dispute between a Wisconsin Good News Club and the Milwaukee Public Schools, the Hi-Mount Elementary School had initially capped the number of school children who could attend a Good News Club, limiting it to 25 students. Then the school district refused to allow parental permission slips to be sent home, informing parents about the club and requesting permission for their children to attend.
Meanwhile, in the district's Congress Street School, another Good News Club was permitted to meet. However, unlike the secular groups that were allowed to meet immediately after school, the Christian club was not allowed to meet until one hour after the end of the school day.
Liberty Counsel intervened and sent demand letters addressing each of these situations. Senior litigation counsel Mary McAlister also spoke with the school district's attorney and threatened legal action, after which the district reversed its discriminatory practices, removed the attendance cap on the Hi-Mount Elementary club, and granted both Christian clubs equal access.
Mat Staver | |
So both Good News Clubs in the Milwaukee Public School District can now meet immediately after school, and their permission slips are now distributed in the same manner as those of secular after-school groups. Mathew D. Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel and Dean of Liberty University School of Law, says some school officials go to "astounding" lengths to discriminate against Christian clubs. The only rationale for this, he contends, is "unfounded ignorance of the law" or else hostility towards the Christian message.
Either way, Staver adds, such discrimination is unconstitutional. "Good News Clubs are good for kids," he asserts; and school district officials' unfair -- and unlawful -- treatment of these beneficial programs can no longer be tolerated.
