LAS VEGAS (AP) - A Las Vegas high school sophomore says administrators denied her application to form an anti-abortion club on campus, and lawyers are demanding the Clark County School District reverse its decision.
The nonprofit Thomas More Society legal group said in a letter sent Thursday to West Career & Technical Academy and the Clark County School District that the decision violates the free speech rights of the student, Angelique Clark.
The group said Clark applied to start a Students for Life club on campus but was told by the vice principal that the topic was controversial, would attract negative media attention and the club’s intent wasn’t inclusive enough.
The Thomas More Society said in its letter that the school has a Bible club and gay-straight alliance club on campus.
The Clark County School District said in a statement it’s reviewing the facts and hadn’t made a final decision. The district said its regulations allow for nonacademic student groups to meet outside of class and “will not be discriminated against on the basis of religious, political philosophical or other speech content.”
The statement noted all clubs must have a faculty adviser and Clark’s club didn’t have one.
The group’s demand was sent a day after a sixth-grader in a North Las Vegas charter school said she was told she couldn’t use a Bible verse in an assignment asking for an inspiring quote.
The nonprofit legal group Liberty Institute is representing the sixth-grader and sent a letter to the charter school and its independent board and managers demanding an apology.
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