Refuses to allow them to participate in public programs
By WND Staff
(Image by Maura Nicolaita from Pixabay)
A federal complaint has been filed in district court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania charging that a school district is violating the constitutional rights of some parochial school students by banning them from participation in extracurricular activities.
Simply because they attend religious schools.
The Thomas More Society reports it has filed the complaint on behalf of the Religious Rights Foundation of Pennsylvania and the parents of two Centre County parochial school students.
The defendant is the State College Area School District.
The district is accused of violating the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because officials in the district denied permission for the parochial students to participate in public school activities.
Lawyer Thomas Breth noted that the district has a policy that lets charter school and homeschool students take part in various programs.
“Yet, the school district justifies its exclusion of parochial school students from the same programs and activities by claiming their inclusion would take away opportunities from students attending district schools,” the report said.
