Robert, since you want to be on the School Board, don't you think it would be good to know if tax money is used to fund these groups? I don't think the Constitution governs how Walton County spends its school funding. Is there a written policy setting out the "fair treatment" for use of the school facilities?
They follow the same rules as the Key Club, Anchor Club, and all the other Clubs.
Yes, the Santa Rosa thing is going to be something to watch. It appears that the adults went over the line at first glance. The same thing happened in Holmes County recently. Last I heard it cost them around $350K for failing to treat everyone the same. That is a true shame as Holmes County could really use those dollars in other areas.
Okay.
I'd really appreciate it if you, or someone could point me in the right direction for the Walton County directive that governs the time, space, and funding of these groups.
Please, please, please be careful here! Let the kiddies have their extra-curricular stuff--it happens after school. Yes, they use school space, but sponsor teachers don't get paid extra to stay, and most school principals who will allow FCA will allow any other peaceful group to assemble.
The reason I BEG you to not get up in arms is because we had a problem in a neighboring county about 4 years ago. A young girl wanted to start a gay pride group. The school had no problem with it. Of COURSE it drew attention from local churches (everyone knew it would) and eventually the ACLU was brought in. While this was, once again, a problem that was inflamed by the evangelicals, the girl organizing the pride group was just as inflammatory. (I was doing a show at the high school in the middle of all of this. Several of the students--theatre students, who weren't exactly the straightest bunch of kids I've ever met--had nothing nice to say about this girl. They said she was just seeking attention that they, the gay students, would rather not have.)
The county school board finally had no choice but to remove all clubs. No Key Club, student council, Beta club, Thespians, Origami, Chess...to my knowledge, they still haven't reinstated extracurricular teacher-sponsored clubs on campus.
Let the Fellowship of Christian Athletes pray, and the gay alliance groups talk about how to be tolerant and accepting, and all the other groups use time after school to celebrate their small patches of common ground. It can be a good thing...