School District Enters Consent Decree With Fellowship of Christian Athletes

Liberty Counsel announced yesterday that the Lake County, Florida, School Board has voted unanimously to enter into a Consent Decree in a suit brought against them last month by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA).  Mount Dora High School allowed secular non-curricular student clubs access to school facilities for announcing their activities, included the club in the school yearbook and allowed club members to wear a colored cord at graduation to signify membership.  FCA sued to obtain the same rights for religious non-curricular student clubs.  The consent decree (full text) in Mount Dora High School Fellowship of Christian Athletes v. Lake County School Board, (MD FL), provides:

The District is hereby permanently enjoined from denying to the FCA Club, and any other high school religious non-curricular student club, Club Benefits that the District provides to any other high school non-religious, non-curricular student club, and from enforcing its Policy in a manner that violates the Equal Access Act or the First Amendment, consistent with current, applicable law.

The consent decree still must be approved by the court.