A New York high school that was caught discriminating against a Christian club last year and tried it again this year has reversed course.
Ward Melville High School in Long Island tried for the second straight year to deny the Christian group Students United in Faith permission to meet on campus. After pressure from Christian rights groups, they reversed course.
“Please be advised the district has decided to alter its position on this issue,” wrote John Sheahan, an attorney for the Three Village Central School District. “In light of this change, the district will grant SUIF recognition as a student group for the 2014-15 school year and reverses any contrary decision.”
The school denied accusations they violated the Equal Access Act.
Hiram Sasser of the Liberty Institute praised the teens who stood up to their school in a statement to Fox News.
“John Raney and Jeremy Johnson may just be high school students, but they did more for liberty than all of Washington, D.C.,” he said.
Officials with a high school in Long Island, New York that was caught discriminating against Christian students last year has been caught doing it again.
Ward Melville High School told John Raney, 17, that he could not have a Christian club as part of the clubs at the school last year. Raney had founded Students United In Faith, a service-oriented Christian group. When the Liberty Institute stepped in, the school Superintendent Cheryl Pedisich reversed the decision and apologized.
Now that the spotlight was off, the school is trying to discriminate against Christian students again.
The school’s Assistant Principal, ironically named Christian Losee, is trying to keep the Christians from having a group this year because of alleged lack of interest and “financial limitations.” However, the school approved four new clubs.
The Liberty Institute was surprised the school would try again to discriminate against Christian students and is taking action.
“This is not a complicated issue,” Sasser wrote. “Simply put, public schools cannot discriminate against religious clubs and must treat them equally, and provide them equal access to school facilities, as non-religious clubs.”