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Thursday, October 06, 2011
Equal Access For Bible Club Does Not Require School-Furnished Paid Adviser
In Youth Alive v. Hauppauge School District, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 113628 (ED NY, Sept. 30, 2011), an extracurricular student Bible club at a New York high school complained that its rights were being violated when the school insisted on its having a volunteer monitor instead of a paid staffer that is furnished to other groups to supervise its meetings. The group contended that an unpaid adviser will cancel meetings at a greater rate than would a paid staff person. A New York federal district court held that the federal Equal Access Act does not require the school district to provide a paid adviser. The court also held that the refusal to provide a paid adviser does not substantially burden the group's free exercise of religion or infringe its free speech rights. However it found that the parties' briefing leaves open a question of fact as to plaintiff's equal protection claim, as well as the claim for nominal damages from the group's treatment during its initial formation.