School Clubs Need Not Die Over Religious Issue

While the philosophical debate over religious activity in public schools continues in the halls of Congress and the Supreme Court, the first decisions on how to implement new national policy are being made by local school boards.

At their March 13 meeting, Carlsbad Unified School District trustees will face the ticklish problem of setting ground rules concerning the use of school facilities by religious clubs, a practice previously prohibited but now specifically allowed by the federal Equal Access Act signed into law last year.

The act, which was pushed by conservative congressmen, prohibits secondary schools that receive federal funds from adopting campus meeting policies that discriminate “on the basis of the religious, political, philosophical, or other content of speech.”

In Carlsbad, where the issue has been brought to a head by a 17-year-old high school student who wants to organize a Christian club, board members seem intent on trying to walk a tightrope between complying with the law and not giving up too much control of what goes on at a campus.

While Carlsbad board members might hold different opinions on the propriety of having the proposed religious club at school, none wants to be faced with having on-campus meetings of the Ku Klux Klan or followers of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon.

In San Diego, the school board has adopted a policy that allows any student-initiated group to use school facilities after school hours. The only stipulations are that each group find a volunteer staff member to attend meetings, not as an official adviser but as more of a chaperone, and that the clubs not be disruptive.

Under the circumstances, this seems a reasonable solution, allowing the marketplace of ideas that is the American way, yet not abandoning all responsibility for students and school facilities. Since San Diego’s policy was implemented in October, five groups--most religious, none outside the mainstream--have taken advantage of it.

The Carlsbad school trustees should look at San Diego’s experience and adopt a similar policy. That would include requiring all non-academic clubs to meet after school. We have considerable trouble with the presence of religious groups on public campuses at all. But as they now appear to be sanctioned by federal law, school boards should at least use their authority to limit their meetings to times when school is not in session.