ADAMS, N.Y. — Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund have reached a settlement with South Jefferson Central School District officials who had censored a New York high school senior’s pro-life message during the Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity. The Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity, sponsored by Stand True Ministries (
www.standtrue.com), is a student-led event giving students an opportunity to educate their classmates about the dangers of abortion.
“We’re glad that school officials will no longer treat pro-life expression as second-class speech,” said ADF Legal Counsel Matt Bowman. “Students do not forsake their constitutional rights once they pass through the schoolhouse door. School officials have done the right thing by reaching this settlement and establishing a new policy which affirms the free speech rights of its students.”
On Oct. 24, 2006, Scott Fish and other students attempted to communicate a pro-life viewpoint to their classmates through the use of message-bearing T-shirts, armbands, leaflets, and symbolic expression. The school principal censored Fish and the other students because their message might make students feel “uncomfortable” and allegedly violated the so-called “separation of church and state.”
After ADF attorneys filed a federal lawsuit on Fish’s behalf, the school district promptly agreed to permit student speech through pro-life clothing and leafleting outside of class (
www.telladf.org/news/story.aspx?cid=3984).
In the settlement agreement, the school district agreed to enact a new policy which reads, in part: “South Jefferson Clarke Senior High School shall not prohibit students from wearing clothing, including shirts and armbands that communicate views on issues of public concern, unless the clothing is lewd, vulgar, indecent, profane, or contains sexual innuendo….”
A copy of the settlement agreement filed with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York in
Fish v. Denny can be read at
www.telladf.org/UserDocs/FishSettlement.pdf.
“While the principal’s actions clearly were meant to stifle pro-life speech, we’re glad that the school district did the right thing by putting this new policy in place,” said Bowman. “Those students who wish to participate in the Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity this year can do so now without fear of being censored.”
ADF is a legal alliance defending the right to hear and speak the Truth through strategy, training, funding, and litigation.
www.telladf.org