By Ann Marie Shambaugh
A Carmel High School student group has filed a lawsuit against Carmel Clay Schools claiming “viewpoint discrimination that violates the First Amendment.”
Voices United, a student group that “assist students in advocating for issues that they care about” according to court documents, sought to post a sign with an abortion rights message in the cafeteria during the same 10 days that a pro-life poster was allowed to be hung there.
The school’s new sign policy states that clubs may only advertise meetings and that promoting an agenda is not allowed. But after students in the CHS Teens for Life Club obtained legal counsel and threatened to sue the school when their pro-life poster was taken down in late 2016, CCS allowed the poster to be displayed for 10 days beginning Feb. 23. Teens for Life club members said they received proper approvals before posting the sign the first time.
The lawsuit states that “Teens for Life had been granted an exception to the new policy, and that the exception would not be extended to Voices United.”
CCS officials declined to be interviewed but Supt. Nicholas Wahl released a statement.
“New signage rules for student clubs at Carmel High School were implemented Jan. 3. These rules, as well as the approval process, have been very clearly communicated to both students and club sponsors and are posted online where they are easily accessible to all involved. Voices United didn’t become a student club until Feb. 28 and has still not completed the necessary requirements to post signs in the high school – including the submission of a club logo and the draft of a proposed sign. It is our responsibility to enforce these new signage rules equitably among our more than 150 student clubs at the high school,” Wahl stated.
This story will be updated.
