{"id":1979153,"date":"2023-07-21T03:15:01","date_gmt":"2023-07-21T07:15:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/parents-sue-pennsylvania-school-district-for-barring-parochial-students-from-extracurriculars\/"},"modified":"2023-07-21T03:17:25","modified_gmt":"2023-07-21T07:17:25","slug":"parents-sue-pennsylvania-school-district-for-barring-parochial-students-from-extracurriculars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/parents-sue-pennsylvania-school-district-for-barring-parochial-students-from-extracurriculars\/","title":{"rendered":"Parents sue PA school district for excluding parochial students from extracurricular activities."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fparents-sue-pennsylvania-school-district-for-barring-parochial-students-from-extracurriculars%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1979153&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"article-content\">\n<h2>Parents\u200b File Lawsuit Against \u200bSchool\u200b District for Religious Discrimination<\/h2>\n<p>Parents of children enrolled at a parochial school in\u200d Centre County, Pennsylvania, along \u2064with the \u200dReligious \u2064Rights Foundation of\u2062 Pennsylvania, a religious liberty <a href=\"https:\/\/religiousrightsfoundation.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">nonprofit<\/a>, filed a\u2063 federal lawsuit \u200bagainst their local school\u2064 district on July 10, 2023. Parents claimed the State College \u200dArea \u200cSchool District\u2063 has discriminated against their children by denying \u200bthem access to extracurricular\u200b activities due to their religious faith.<\/p>\n<p>The district, which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scasd.org\/Page\/615\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">serves<\/a> nearly 7,000 students and is located near Penn\u200b State University, provides\u2063 numerous extracurricular activities for\u2064 enrolled students, including athletics, &#8220;student government, \u200cspecial interest and service clubs, dramatic performances, [and] literary publications.&#8221; Despite the district&#8217;s \u2062 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scasd.org\/Domain\/2950\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">obvious disdain<\/a> for charter\u200d schools and its \u200d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scasd.org\/cms\/lib\/PA01000006\/Centricity\/Domain\/87\/Appendix%20A.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">onerous requirements<\/a> for homeschool students, Pennsylvania <a href=\"https:\/\/uploads-ssl.webflow.com\/63d954d4e4ad424df7819d46\/64b16ba40bcd189a211b80d0_7.10.23%20-%20Complaint%20(TS).pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">law requires<\/a> \u2063 school districts to make extracurricular activities available to charter school or homeschool \u2062students who reside within \u200cthem.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>In defiance of the law, \u200bhowever, children within the \u2062district who attend the\u2064 approximately 10 private religious schools \u2062in the area \u2064have been subjected to a &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/uploads-ssl.webflow.com\/63d954d4e4ad424df7819d46\/64b16ba40bcd189a211b80d0_7.10.23%20-%20Complaint%20(TS).pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">longstanding\u2064 practice<\/a>&#8221; of exclusion\u2063 from extracurricular\u2063 activities. \u200bThe <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/parents-sue-pennsylvania-school-district-for-barring-parochial-students-from-extracurriculars\/\" title=\"Parents sue PA school district for excluding parochial students from extracurricular activities.\">plaintiffs made multiple informal attempts<\/a> to ensure their children could access extracurricular activities, but the district repeatedly denied them. Parochial school parents within the district \u200bcreated the <a href=\"https:\/\/religiousrightsfoundation.org\/mission-statement\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Religious Rights Foundation<\/a> to address this instance of religious discrimination, but its founders hope it can be a resource in future cases as well.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>According to Thomas More Society Special\u2064 Counsel Thomas \u200dBreth, one of the attorneys representing the\u2063 plaintiffs, the district&#8217;s longstanding practice means that, to his knowledge, students at religious schools within the district have <em>never<\/em> been allowed to participate in \u200bextracurricular activities.<\/p>\n<p>This exclusion &#8220;goes way beyond athletics,&#8221; \u2063Breth said, and it \u200cprevents students from parochial schools, which are smaller\u2063 and \u2064have fewer extracurricular activities, from taking advantage\u2064 of the numerous opportunities that the district proudly advertises on its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scasd.org\/Page\/615\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">website<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This policy is not limited\u200d to\u2064 the State College\u2062 Area School District. The &#8220;vast majority&#8221; of school districts in\u2063 Pennsylvania also deny participation by religious students, Breth said.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>According to the district, the <a href=\"https:\/\/uploads-ssl.webflow.com\/63d954d4e4ad424df7819d46\/64b16ba40bcd189a211b80d0_7.10.23%20-%20Complaint%20(TS).pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reasons<\/a> for the parochial school students&#8217; exclusion from extracurricular activities is simply a \u2064matter of resources. The district &#8220;\u2026has ample, and \u200bsometimes excess, participation for teams, so there is no need to expand. Additionally,\u200c if [the district] allow[s] private school students to take\u200d part, [it] could be taking away opportunities from SCASD students.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Despite \u2063the district&#8217;s purported lack of resources for extracurricular activities,\u200d it still has time and money to focus on &#8220;equity and inclusion,&#8221; complete with an anti-racism <a href=\"https:\/\/go.boarddocs.com\/pa\/stco\/Board.nsf\/files\/BTZR8Q6BC46C\/%24file\/7.A.%20Anti-Racism%20Resolution%2010-05-2020.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">resolution<\/a> adopted in October 2020 and\u2064 10 &#8220;equity workgroups.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately for the district, \u2064its reasoning doesn&#8217;t pass muster. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/supreme-court-calls-new-yorks-covid-19-restrictions-discriminatory-sides-with-religious-leaders\/\" title=\"Supreme Court Calls New York\u2019s COVID-19 Restrictions \u2018Discriminatory,\u2019 Sides With Religious Leaders\">free exercise clause<\/a>\u200b of the First Amendment <a href=\"https:\/\/uploads-ssl.webflow.com\/63d954d4e4ad424df7819d46\/64b16ba40bcd189a211b80d0_7.10.23%20-%20Complaint%20(TS).pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">prevents<\/a> the government from\u200d &#8220;\u2026denying a generally available benefit solely on account of religious identity.&#8221; In this case, \u200dthe \u2062plaintiffs \u2064argue that the opportunity to participate in extracurricular activities is a generally available\u200d benefit \u200bto all students who reside within the district, and therefore must <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/school-choice-advocates-are-having-a-good-year\/\" title=\"School Choice Advocates Are Having a Good Year\">include charter school<\/a>\u2064 and \u2062homeschool students, too.<\/p>\n<p>The Supreme Court has held \u200dthat this type of discrimination \u2063based on \u2064religion is subject to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/wex\/strict_scrutiny\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">strict scrutiny<\/a>, which means the district must prove it has a &#8220;compelling interest&#8221; in preventing parochial\u2064 school students from participating, and that its\u200b unofficial policy of exclusion is &#8220;narrowly tailored&#8221; to further that compelling interest. &#8220;Excess participation&#8221; by district students\u200c seems unlikely to be a compelling interest, especially since it&#8217;s \u2064likely that \u200ballowing parochial school students to\u200b participate would\u200d only increase\u200c numbers by a few hundred, not thousands of students.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The plaintiffs&#8217; lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, \u200dseeks a decision finding that the\u200d district&#8217;s policy of exclusion violates the First Amendment and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-legal-team-files-appeal-after-obama-judge-dismisses-lawsuit-seeking-to-block-pennsylvania-from-certifying-its-results\/\" title=\"Trump Legal Team Files Appeal After Obama Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Seeking to Block Pennsylvania From Certifying Its Results\">equal protection clause<\/a> of\u2063 the 14th Amendment and \u200can order requiring the district to allow\u2062 students from parochial\u200d schools to participate in all extracurricular activities.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Now that\u200d the lawsuit has\u200d been filed and a judge assigned, the district has 60 days to respond. Breth expects the judge to order\u200c a status conference between the \u200cparties within the next few months.<\/p>\n<p>For the plaintiffs, \u200dit&#8217;s not soon enough. As Breth stated,\u2062 &#8220;It&#8217;s important to emphasize [that the] plaintiffs pay taxes, they \u200bare residents, the only\u200b difference is they have enrolled in\u200d a parochial school.\u200d [There is] no \u2064justification \u2063for them to be\u200c excluded, [all that the plaintiffs are] seeking [is] \u2063 for\u200b them\u200b to be treated equally. They should have the \u200dsame opportunities as any other student in the district.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Parents and the Religious Rights Foundation of Pennsylvania filed a federal lawsuit on July 10, 2023, against the State College Area School District in Centre County, Pennsylvania. They allege that the district has discriminated against their children by denying them extracurricular opportunities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1690,"featured_media":1979154,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1979153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1979153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1690"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1979153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1979153\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1979154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1979153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1979153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1979153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}