O.C. District Adopts New Club Policy

Faced with a courtroom defeat and a potentially costly lawsuit involving a gay student support club, the Orange school board Thursday night moved to require parental permission from high school students who want to join extracurricular clubs.

Under such a requirement, high schoolers who want to join a gay club on campus would have to tell their parents first. In addition, the board decided, sexual matters could not be discussed at any extracurricular club, and students would be required to maintain a C average to join.

The board also voted unanimously to ban all extracurricular clubs from elementary and middle schools. The reason for that ban was unclear. Elementary schools have no extracurricular clubs, a district spokeswoman said; she did not know if Orange’s middle schools had such clubs.

The board unanimously instructed its lawyer to draw up the language on parental permission for a future vote. The rules on high school clubs would take effect July 1; the ban on extracurricular clubs at lower grades is immediate.

“This has been a complex and divisive issue and very, very stressful on everyone,” said board President Linda Davis. “It’s been very disruptive. We’re very, very concerned for our students.”

Her colleague, Kathy Ward, said Thursday’s decision did not preclude further changes in club policy. Nor does the decision necessarily end legal action in the case.

Lawyers for the gay club, though, raised concerns that the rules seemed targeted at that club.

“Certainly, a parental consent requirement will have a greater effect on some clubs than others,” said David Codell, who represents the teen founders of the club. “There is a concern that some students want to attend a club like this in order to address . . . intolerance that they may be facing in their home lives.”

Nor were anti-club forces mollified.

“I’m just not sure it’s the right answer,” said Heidi Romero, who has a child at El Modena High School and who would prefer that the gay support club not be allowed to meet.

The school board was faced with a weighty decision after it was sued by two students at El Modena High who wanted to start a group called the Gay-Straight Alliance. Equal access rules do not allow schools that accept federal funds to choose which extracurricular clubs they will allow based on what might be discussed at meetings.

In December, the school board denied the club access to campus on the grounds that student discussions could impede the district’s sex education curriculum. The students last Friday won a preliminary injunction allowing them to meet.

Thursday night’s meeting, the first since the 31,000-student district lost the court ruling and the club held its first meeting, was packed with about 200 people.

“I’m not embarrassed to beg of you and plead with you to please protect our children,” said parent Sherry Lewis, who argued for the board to eliminate all extracurricular clubs. “Forget what the judge said, forget the media here today; think about our children.”

El Modena parent Suzanne Jamieson, however, backed the club and its 58 official members.

“We have 58 really brave kids at El Modena,” she said. “Some of them think they may be gay. Most of them are standing up for the rights of those who are harassed.”