ACLU slams consent policy for Lake middle-school clubs

Less than a year after losing a fight to prevent middleschoolers from forming a gaystraight alliance club, Lake County School Board members recently approved a change requiring the students to obtain parental consent to join any student organization.

The permission slips are meant to act as a safeguard for what School Board member Bill Mathias refers to as “goofy” clubs, such as one sponsored by the Satanic Temple that could distract kids from academics.

But an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, which waged a fouryear legal battle with the district, said the new policy is “a solution in search of a problem.”

“The change in policy was specifically meant to stop the GSA [gay-straight alliance],” attorney Daniel Tilley said. “It certainly harms the kids who don’t have involved parents.”

He said he hasn’t yet met

with other ACLU officials about whether to challenge the requirement in court.

Permission slips will be required for the 60 middle school clubs, including chess, philosophy, robotics and drama. Orange County is the only other Central Florida district that requires written permission for middle-schoolers to participate in extracurricular clubs.

The legal tug of war over gay-straight alliance clubs in middle schools ended in December. Federal appeals court Judge William Pryor — who was on President Donald Trump’s short list to be named to the U.S. Supreme Court — ruled that middle schools were under the umbrella of the Equal Access Act, a federal law first drafted to ensure the rights of Bible study groups to form in public schools.

As a result of the ruling, School Board members had to choose between allowing any middle-school club — such as a gaystraight alliance club or an after-school Satan club — or ban them all.

Searching for a middle ground, board members recently approved the parental-consent policy to place controls on what clubs middle-schoolers join.

Mathias, who based his opposition to a gaystraight alliance club because he didn’t think it was appropriate for middle-schoolers, said his vote in favor of the parentalconsent policy isn’t about snuffing out expression but protecting kids.

“… if the Satanic Temple wants to come forward with a club and we now allow it or the Sons of the Confederacy or the Nation of Islam — that’s what we’re really dealing with is unintended consequences,” he said at a recent School Board meeting.

Chalice Blythe, coordinator of the national After School Satan Club, said groups like hers frequently counter potential opposition with their own permission-slip policies.

“Despite acknowledging the absurdity of permission-slip requirements, we still carefully pick our battles, and that was not one we wanted to focus on,” she said.

In December, the Satanic Temple’s co-founder vowed to start an afterschool Satanic club at a Boca Raton middle school. An English teacher at the school had drawn residents’ wrath after putting up a display that included a Satanic pentagram and a banner exclaiming “In Satan We Trust” alongside other religious banners.

The teacher said it was done in part to demonstrate that Christian values seep into the mainstream and break separation of church and state without out any discussion.

“Our goal is to make the public question the validity of religious groups, even ours,” Blythe said. “It is to battle religious indoctrination in our public schools.” She did not give details about the location or number of existing clubs.

Lake School Board members said such debates aren’t appropriate for middle-school children in the 43,000-student district.

“I honestly believe they should be focused on their academics at that age,” Mathias said. “I feel strongly about this, but it’s been exhausting, though.”

He said he doesn’t want any more court clashes over middle-school clubs.

“Should we have to litigate again considering parental consent, then I would be in favor quite honestly of eliminating all non-curricular clubs,” he said.

Tilley said the School Board has done nothing but overreact since the beginning.

“The board members in our litigation couldn’t name any problems with the club that were actually happening — they imagined problems,” Tilley said. “When the GSA [gaystraight-alliance] came to meet, no problems came to pass.”

As of the end of last school year, the only gaystraight alliance club in Lake was at Carver Middle School in Leesburg with four active members.

No middle school in Lake submitted a club application for this school year.

“Should we have to litigate again considering parental consent, then I would be in favor quite honestly of eliminating all non-curricular clubs.” School Board member Bill Mathias