Thursday April 15, 2010
Ark. School District: All Fliers OK… Except ‘Church-Related’ Ones
ADF files suit after student is barred from distributing fliers about swimming event
LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas, April 15, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) — Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against the Pulaski County Special School District on behalf of a student and her mother, who were both prohibited from participating in Sherwood Elementary School’s literature distribution program because their fliers were “church-related.”
School officials are standing by the decision even after they received an ADF letter stating that the district’s policy is unconstitutional.
The ADF filed the lawsuit, A.W. v. Pulaski County Special School District, with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, Western Division.
“Christian students shouldn’t be discriminated against for their beliefs,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel David Cortman. “When fliers for many community programs or events are permitted in the district’s policy except for activities that are ‘church-related,’ that’s a textbook violation of free speech protected by the First Amendment. As the U.S. Supreme Court has stated, ‘Students do not shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gate.’”
In October 2009, a 3rd-grade student and her mother requested permission to distribute fliers inviting friends and classmates to a church-sponsored swimming event the following month at a local pool.
The student’s teacher responded that permission would have to be granted by Sherwood Elementary School’s principal, who, after taking two weeks to respond, said that the director of elementary education decided that the fliers could not be distributed because they were “church-related.” The director eventually confirmed her decision to the parent.
The student’s mother subsequently contacted PCSSD Superintendant Rob McGill, who stated that neither she nor her daughter was allowed to distribute the fliers through the take-home folders or display them in the literature distribution rack. She then asked McGill if her child could simply hand the fliers out to her friends and classmates during non-classroom time, and he said school officials would immediately stop her if she did.
ADF attorneys were ignored by the district several times in February and March after they requested information about any school or community literature distribution policies. The Arkansas Freedom of Information Act of 1967 requires these public records to be divulged upon request.
Fliers reportedly permitted by the district include ones promoting the 4-H Club, Boy & Girl Scouts, local youth sports teams, karate lessons, summer camps, book and consignment sales, and PTA fundraisers at local restaurants.