Holdingford Public School District in is a small district in Holdingford, Minnesota.
The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) announces in a Townhall column that the school officials violated the First Amendment rights of their client, a 9th grade student named Emma. ACLJ classified what they’d done as an outrageous scheme that requires students to “Pay to Pray.”
AFN connected with Christina Compagnone, senior managing counsel with the ACLJ.
"Our client Emma is in high school, and she was wanting to start a Bible study club with the students. When she started to inquire into the options for renting out a room, she had been told from the school that she was going to have to pay twenty-seven dollars for a classroom each usage," explains Compagnone.
Compagnone said that Emma sent her team all of the info and responses from school staff, and they began looking into her school district's policies and procedures.
"We realized that they treat different groups differently in terms of who has to pay for these rooms and who doesn't. For example, the 4-H group, the Boy Scouts, and the Girl Scouts are classified as Group B, and they are given classroom usage for free if they want to rent out those classrooms," informs Compagnone.
But then, Compagnone explained, there are second, third, and fourth groups. She said Emma's group was classified as Group D, which was for religious nonprofit organizations. She likens it somewhat to an external church.
"Nonetheless, you can't treat someone who's coming with a religious purpose differently than someone else similarly situated, such as the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts, or the 4-H club,” says Compagnone. “That was when we decided to send a demand letter, saying that, under the 1st Amendment, this is a public school and you are not allowed to discriminate against religion.”
Compagnone informed that her team requested a reply to the letter by Wednesday. They received a letter in return from the school Tuesday morning.
"They tried to explain away what they think the principal did, but ultimately, they did conclude that she should be considered Group B and essentially apologized. She will now be able to use the classroom for free for her Bible club," states Compagnone.
