The court heard from high school graduate Kerry Pacer, president of P.R.I.D.E. - or Peers Rising In Diversity Education - who brought the Federal suit. She testified students booed her when she received a rose at a school gathering. She told the court she heard announcements about other non-curricular clubs on the school P.A. system during her senior year after PRIDE was banned from meeting on campus.
Principal Brian Dorsey testified he decided no non-curricular clubs would meet on campus. But ACLU attorneys presented morning bulletins as evidence that those clubs did meet and those morning announcements were made on the public address system.
"It showed that the school knew about clubs that were meeting even when they claimed that they had no knowledge so we think that was very good evidence," ACLU attorney Beth Littrell said.
The lawsuit claims White County school officials violated the Federal Equal Access Act during the 2005-2006 school year by barring P.R.I.D.E. from meeting on campus, while allowing other non-curricular clubs to do so.
PRIDE member Charlene Hammersen will be a senior at White County High when school starts again and said mistreatment led to forming the club.
"The bullying motivated us, I mean people making fun of us," she said.
The lawsuit seeks to force the White County School System to allow the club to organize and meet on campus.
White County School Board Attorney Phil Hartley said he thought Judge O'Kelley understood his argument that principal Dorsey acted properly in allowing only curricular related clubs on campus after the controversy erupted over the gay student club.
"We think we explained to the judge that good faith efforts were made to try to apply the law and conscientious decisions were made not to go against any one group but to try to apply the law in a way that would limit groups to those that only dealt with curriculum," Hartley said.
Judge O'Kelley took the case under advisement but was unsure if a ruling would come before the beginning of the new school year, according to Hartley.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
http://accesswdun.com/article/2006/6/108649