School Can't Blot Out Christmas Party Flyers
SCRANTON, Pa. (CN) - A sixth-grade girl won an injunction to hand out flyers for her church's Christmas party after a school forbade her from doing so last year.
The injunction order says that student, described in court filings as K.A., "is permitted to distribute religious flyers to her friends and classmates during non-instructional time at Barrett Elementary Center," and the school cannot legally prohibit her from distributing literature that promotes religious events and activities.
K.A.'s father, Michael Ayers, filed suit on her behalf in March 2011. He said the dispute arose when K.A. planned to distribute Christmas party flyers among her classmates in the Pocono Mountain School District last December. When K.A.'s teacher saw the flyer, she told K.A. that the principal needed to approve it first. Principal Heidi Donohue than told K.A. and Ayers that the superintendent had to approve nonschool flyers, but that he had not given such approval to K.A.
Ayers said Superintendent Dwight Pfenning emailed him and told him that Policy 913 gave him the authority to prohibit the distribution of the flyer because it was "for an event run by an organization the school was unfamiliar with, rather than the flyer's promotion of a religious holiday." The flyer in question promoted what was dubbed an "iKidz Rock Night Christmas Party," a "just for kids" event with face-painting, pingpong, foosball, snacks, games and prizes.
http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/10/24/40866.htm