A school in Washington state has changed its mind and will allow a girl in sixth grade to hand out gospel tracts to people at school.
Nathan Moelker is an attorney at American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ).
"A school district in Washington told our client — an innocent child who was just trying to hand out tracts to her fellow classmates outside of class time and only to students who were willing — told that child that she couldn't do it," Moelker states.
According to ACLJ, the vice principal removed the child from her math class and told her she couldn’t hand out the gospel tracts to those who were willing classmates. When she asked him why they could express their viewpoints but she couldn’t, ACLJ says he told their client that “students may share opinions, but not religious beliefs.” Even worse, the vice principal used students leaving during school hours to participate in anti-ICE protests as an example of what expression is permitted.
ACLJ sent the school district a letter about this incident "demanding" that they recognize her right to religious expression. The school — whose name has not been release by ACLJ — agreed.
This is not the first time this has happened. When the same child was in the second grade, she wanted to hand out gospel tracts and was told that was not allowed.
"She was in second grade, and she was dragged out of class. Her backpack was searched for tracts. She was told she wasn't allowed to bring them to school,” Moelker says. “So, we sent a demand letter at that time, which resulted in the school district agreeing that, of course, she has a constitutional right to share her faith. They sent us a letter agreeing to that, recognizing her rights."
In that instance, a formal written agreement was reached, which was signed by the school district and later broken by them.
The ACLJ was prepared to take this to court if the school did not agree with their latest demand letter.
