Report: Kansas City Middle School Prohibited Students from Posting ‘See You at the Pole’ Fliers

Photo Credit: Tim Pearce, Los Gatos/flickrAn Arizona group has filed a federal lawsuit accusing a suburban Kansas City middle school of violating a student’s First Amendment rights by prohibiting the student from handing out fliers promoting a prayer event.

The Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian group based in Scottsdale, Arizona, that advocates for religious rights, contends a counselor at Robert E. Clark Middle School in Bonner Springs violated the student’s rights to free speech and equal protection by refusing to allow the student to post fliers promoting the Sept. 25 “See You at the Pole” event, a national event in which teens pray around their school flagpoles.

The group contends in the lawsuit filed Nov. 26 in federal court in Kansas City, Kansas, that the counselor told the student the fliers, which contained Bible verses, could not be posted or distributed at school because of their religious content. The ADF, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of the student identified only as “K.R.,” also said the district has a policy banning distribution of religious materials on school grounds but allows other types of materials to be posted and distributed.

“This denial of K.R.’s religious materials, while permitting secular posters, flyers, and materials from other students, constitutes viewpoint discrimination, which is unconstitutional in any type of form,” the lawsuit said.

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