Along the same lines as the Boy Scout issue. Check the trustee comment in bold. (It's interesting how this lowest common denominator even is applied to the energy crisis in CA. Bids are based on the costs of the least-efficient producer.)
School clubs lose status
To settle a lawsuit by a Christian group, Saddleback Valley Unified tells
29 others they can't meet during class hours.
June 14, 2001
By CHARLES ADAMSON
The Orange County Register
MISSION VIEJO High schoolers learned Wednesday that a school-district decision might
spell the end of their service and social clubs.
Saddleback Valley Unified School District trustees late Tuesday decided to revoke club status
from 29 groups - ranging from the Key Club to Amnesty International - to settle a lawsuit
brought by a Christian group that wanted club status.
Starting Monday, about 1,185 members of club chapters at four district high schools can no
longer meet during school hours or use school media - yearbooks, posters, closed-circuit
television - to advertise meetings and solicit members.
Instead, they must meet before or after school.
"The kids won't do that. You'll see every service club die. Every single one," said Mission
Viejo High School senior Russell Renzas, 18.
He's a member of the service clubs Students Against Destructive Decisions and Interact. Both
are on the chopping block.
Renzas said he would be happy if religious groups were allowed club status for diversity and
tolerance. "(The district) is more about a lawsuit than giving kids opportunities, which to me is
appalling," he said.
The district's decision was in response to a February appellate-court ruling that a lawsuit by
former Mission Viejo High student Justin Van Schoick could go forward.
Van Schoick sued in 1996 after administrators denied club status to the Fellowship of
Christian Athletes, saying such status was reserved for curriculum-based groups.
Attorney John A. Mendoza argued that service clubs like the Key Club and Girls League are
not curriculum-based either.
The federal Equal Access Act of 1984 guarantees equal access to religious clubs when
noncurriculum clubs exist.
Rather than go to trial, the district decided to narrow its definition of curriculum-based clubs,
and on Wednesday it began informing teachers and administrators of the change.
Other Orange County schools allow service clubs. For example, administrators consider
Capistrano Unified high school Key Clubs to be curriculum-based. Orange Unified, which
fought a long battle over inclusion of a gay club at El Modena High, allows student clubs,
regardless of ties to curriculum.
Some Saddleback teachers said they worry what will become of the clubs.
Laguna Hills High Spanish teacher and Key Club adviser Kathy Englhard said the 150 kids in
her Key Club start class as early as 7 a.m. and hold after-school jobs and play sports.
"It will have a huge impact" on attendance, she said.
District trustees defended their decision.
"If people aren't happy with that, they can go to the Christian club and thank them for it," said
board President Dore Gilbert.
"I don't want a crack in the door that then becomes a swinging gate that allows any group
official club status. ... If you start allowing certain clubs on campus, they might not be as
brotherly as a Christian club."
Mendoza was disappointed that groups would lose club status but was happy with the
outcome. He said he hopes parent and student outcry would force administrators to allow all
clubs on campus.
"That's a shame that they would rather have no clubs than a Christian club with other good
clubs," Mendoza said.
"I'm glad to see they are finally deciding to comply with California law and federal law. I'm
also confident that the clubs will continue to meet during noninstructional time, any clubs,
including the FCA."
Tiffany Troxell, 17, is a senior at Laguna Hills High and a member of the FCA and the Key
Club. She said some good could come of an otherwise disappointing decision.
"We wouldn't have the students that just belonged to put it on a college application," she said.
Register staff writer Keith Sharon and researcher Mike Rosenstreter contributed to this
report. |
