THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 10, 1994 TAG: 9411100630
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARC DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
A federal judge threw out a lawsuit Wednesday that accused Smithfield High School of violating student rights for not letting a Bible club meet.
U.S. District Judge Raymond A. Jackson ruled that the lawsuit was premature. He said the club had never officially formed and had not formally applied for school recognition.
Lawyers for the student who sued said they will appeal Jackson's ruling.
The lawsuit was filed in February by Pat Robertson's legal organization, the American Center for Law and Justice, as part of a larger assault on schools that do not allow Bible clubs.
A similar lawsuit filed at the same time against a Long Island, N.Y., high school is pending.
The local lawsuit was filed on behalf of a student, Jackie Marie Ferguson, who has since graduated. The suit named the Isle of Wight County School Board, Superintendent Jane T. York and Principal Donald T. Alvey as defendants.
At issue is the right of a volunteer student Bible club to meet during Smithfield High's ``activity period,'' a time during class hours when 36 student groups meet.
Robertson's legal center argues that some of those 36 groups are not curriculum-related, and that if one is allowed to meet at that time, then all must be allowed, including religious-based groups.
Under the federal Equal Access Act, schools must let religion-based groups use school facilities if other non-curriculum-based groups are allowed. The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the law in 1990.
The law center argues that groups such as Odyssey of the Mind and a student peer-counseling club, which meet at Smithfield High, are not curriculum-based.
But an attorney for the county, F. Bradford Stillman, said the club could meet before or after school hours, but not during class hours, from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
In a written statement after the ruling, the school superintendent repeated that position. ``It has always been our intention to follow the law,'' York said. ``The board adopted a policy which would have allowed Jackie Ferguson to organize a Bible club to meet before or after school at Smithfield High School.''
In court Wednesday, the judge ruled that the Bible club had no members, no constitution and no bylaws, and, therefore, was no more than a concept when the student mentioned it to the principal.
KEYWORDS: U.S. DISTRICT COURT LAWSUIT
AMERICAN CENTER FOR LAW AND JUSTICE
by CNB