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Thursday, August 17, 2006

Law - Interesting school ruling from Maryland

"Court Ruling Prompts Ban on Groups Sending Fliers Home With Students" is the headline to a story today in the Washington Post. Some quotes:

Montgomery County school officials announced yesterday that they are temporarily banning outside groups such as parent-teacher associations and the Boy Scouts from distributing fliers about activities and events in student backpacks.

The decision comes less than a week after a federal appeals court ruled that the school system's policy for flier distribution was unconstitutional because it gave educators unlimited power to approve or reject materials.

The case is the outgrowth of a dispute between the school system and Child Evangelism Fellowship of Maryland. The group filed suit in 2001 after the school system denied its request to distribute fliers about its Good News Club programs, in which students learn about the Bible. System officials said they were concerned because the materials were religious.

System officials said the court's decision left them with only two options until a new policy could be developed: allow all fliers to be distributed or allow none.

The court was 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia. Here is the Post's story from April 11th. Some quotes:
A federal appeals court ruled yesterday that the Montgomery County public schools' policy for distributing fliers by community groups is unconstitutional because it gives school officials unlimited power to approve or reject materials.

The decision is the latest in the five-year battle between school officials and Child Evangelism Fellowship of Maryland, a Christian organization which sought to distribute fliers about its after-school Good News Club programs, which teach about the Bible.

In the 20-page decision, the three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals wrote that the school system's policy governing flier distribution "imposes no guidelines as to how MCPS should exercise this unlimited discretion. This unbridled discretion requires that we sustain the CEF's challenge to the policy."

The school system initially rejected the group's request to distribute the fliers in 2001 because it considered the materials religious in nature. The group then sued, maintaining that the school policy discriminated against them while other organizations -- including parent-teacher groups and nonprofit youth sports leagues -- were allowed to distribute fliers to students.

Here is the 4th Circuit opinion, Child Evangelism v. Montgomery (8/10/06).

Here is information about a similar suit in Pennsylvania.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 17, 2006 10:20 AM
Posted to General Law Related