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District's Policy Reversal Favors Local Good News Clubs


(AgapePress) - The senior litigation counsel with a Christian law firm says many public school administrators simply don't understand the constitutional rights of believers.

The Wolcott School District in Wolcott, Connecticut, recently reversed its practice of denying equal access to Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) Good News Clubs in it elementary schools. The Christian club had been told it would have to pay higher fees than other non-profit clubs to use school facilities for meetings.

But after Liberty Counsel, a religious and civil liberties law firm based in Orlando, sent a letter to the district outlining constitutional rights for Christians, the district reversed its policy, thereby now allowing CEF to use district facilities on the same basis as other similarly situated secular groups.

According to Liberty Counsel's senior litigation counsel Mary McAlister, schools benefit from Christian clubs like CEF and should be encouraging their presence on their campuses.

"This group provides training and service to the children in the public schools that they really aren't getting anywhere else," the attorney explains, noting that teachers notice the difference in those who are participating in the club. "… [M]any of the teachers comment on the fact that the students going to these club meetings after school show a noticeable improvement in their behavior and their conduct in their classes."

In the Wolcott case, Liberty Counsel advised the district that its policy was unconstitutional and that "every day that CEF is denied access [to school facilities] represents a continuing violation of CEF's First Amendment rights." McAlister says many cases of religious discrimination are settled before legal action is necessary.

"That's really what we try to do in each case," she explains. "[W]e try to first provide information to the districts -- to educate them on the law as far as Good News Clubs [are concerned]."

And apparently that was effective in the Wolcott situation. Following receipt of the letter from Liberty Counsel and a meeting with CEF staff members, the Wolcott superintendent announced at a Board of Education meeting that CEF was entitled to facility access as a community organization conducting routine non-profit activities.