Jeremy Dys, an attorney at First Liberty Institute, says the incident happened at Olympic High School, located in Bremerton, where the school has a Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter. The posters, which unsurprisingly included a reference to Jesus, were permitted because they were advertising the club to fellow students.
After the unnamed teacher complained to school officials, Central Kitsap School District was forced to bring in a third party to investigate the claim the religious posters were discriminatory. The matter was resolved, Dys says, with the conclusion there was insufficient evidence of discriminatory actions.
“I think most people would sort of chuckle at the idea that this would even need investigation,” the attorney observes. “But on the other side of things, it is significant that the school district did do an investigation. I guess they have their policies they have to follow but, thankfully, they rejected these claims.”
FCA chapters, which are referred to as "huddles," number approximately 18,600 on high school and college campuses in the U.S.
The teacher who complained about the posters has not been named, but the Olympic High teacher who is the club advisor, Joshua Kazas, was dragged into the inquiry.
“The teacher, the sponsor of the FCA, had nothing to do with the posters,” Dys points out. “He's just the sponsor of the club. He didn't create the content, didn't tell them where to put it.”
Because the incident forced Central Kitsap to address its policy for advertising clubs, Dys expects the school district will cite the First Amendment and the right of a club, religious or non-religious, to share their messages in the school hallway.
The website for Olympic High advertises nearly 40 clubs on campus.
