UPDATED
It was all about the paperwork, huh?
Fargo Public Schools is now claiming that it doesn’t have any problem with students setting up pro-life clubs at two high schools, implying these students are just incompetent in their applications.
Students for Life of America, which is assisting the students, calls BS on that – and the local media have the school correspondence to refute the district’s claim.
Valley News Live reports:
On Thursday Fargo Public schools issued a statement to the original demand letter claiming the students never filed the appropriate paperwork, at least at Davies High, but indicated the district would consider the application if one was handed in. However in emails obtained by Valley News Live, Assistant Principal Lenny Ohlhauser never mentions an application process while writing to other district officials and instead indicates that approval might not be possible because of ties to a church. From the email “Do either of you have students involved with pro-life. I have some students asking about being able to provide a space for meeting. I told them club status will not probably be an option due to the ties of a church, but giving a space to meet is an option.”
You can read the emails between the district, students and “others involved in this situation” in the Valley News Live article.
SFLA tells the news organization:
“They are purposely trying to make two high school sophomores look inept when in reality, it is the school district that is fumbling around for any excuse to continue to delay or outright deny the Students for Life clubs that Brigid O’Keefe and Katie McPherson have been trying to start, in one case for eight months now … As we approach the end of the school year, we suspect the school district is trying to push this ‘issue’ under the rug for a few more months in the hopes that Brigid and Katie will forget about wanting to educate their peers and serve women in need.”
SFLA and its law firm, the Thomas More Society, are also on the offensive against a high school principal in Iowa for denying club status to a student pro-life group, claiming it’s too “controversial,” in a dispute going back two years:
“The pro-life students are simply asking for equal treatment,” said Jocelyn Floyd, Associate Counsel of Thomas More Society. “Here the school is trying to claim that its lesser treatment is justified because Isabell’s club doesn’t tie in with the school’s curriculum—but neither do most of the school’s other clubs, such as the book club, mock trial, or SADD (Students Against Drunk Driving). By law, Hampton-Dumont High School administrators must give their pro-life students the same opportunities as they give all these other school clubs.”
The law firm sent the principal a blistering letter all but threatening a lawsuit.
Read the Valley News Live story and SFLA’s post on Iowa.
UPDATE: Fargo Public School District No. 1 has agreed to “abide by the requirements of the law” regarding student clubs going forward, according to a Tuesday letter from the Thomas More Society to the district’s lawyers. It asks for “posthaste” approval of the clubs at both high schools, one whose application was denied and the other having been denied from even applying.
Like The College Fix on Facebook / Follow us on Twitter
Please join the conversation about our stories on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, MeWe, Rumble, Gab, Minds and Gettr.