OMG! She did it!
After months of being stonewalled and rejected by an assistant principal who said that the school district could and would not support a religious club that is not “completely unbiased to any and all religions,” a freshman student has prevailed and will be allowed to form a Christian club, a national legal group reports.
First Liberty Institute, the nonprofit representing freshman student Daniela Barca, announced that officials at Wappingers Central School district in New York have reversed a decision that barred Barca from creating her “OMG! Christian Club” at Roy C. Ketcham High School this fall.
According to First Liberty, a legal group dedicated to defending U.S. religious freedom, approval for Barca’s club should become official at a January board meeting.
“I am so happy that school officials are going to allow us to start the club at school so we can support each other in our beliefs,” Barca told The Christian Post.
First Liberty Institute lawyer Keisha Russell sent the school district a letter last week pointing out that school officials violated the Equal Access Act of 1984 by not approving Barca’s request to start a Christian club.
Barca said she means for the club to be a place of “faith-based support” where students could discuss things like “living for God in a godless society.” She secured a staff sponsor for the club before the school year began.
In her Dec. 11 letter, Russell demanded that the school district allow Barca and her club to begin meeting in January 2020, saying that the school district was engaging in unlawful viewpoint discrimination.
Ketcham High School has over 20 other student clubs, including the pro-LGBT Pride Club, Science Olympiad, Teen Club, Masque & Mime Society, Future Business Leaders of America and Math Team.
