Johnston County School Board bans distribution of literature such as the Gideons New Testament and other stuff

I had already commented on this once.  I just hope that they do it CONSISTENTLY across the board.  I am tired of circus ticket coupons and restaurant fliers coming home with my son's school notebook but somehow a Gideon's New Testament is objectionable.  The ACLU SUCKS.  Seldom do I agree with them.

From WTSB:

School Board Approves Controversial Policy
Johnston County school board members on Tuesday deliberated for over an hour before voting 5 to 2 to approve a controversial policy, which limits non-school related materials on school grounds.

School Board Chairman Larry Strickland and Board Member Donna White voted against it.

Superintendent Ed Croom (pictured right) said, for years, Johnston County Schools has allowed organizations like Gideons International to visit campuses and distribute New Testaments and other religious literature.

But Croom said that last year a couple of groups approached him with material, which he deemed inappropriate for students.

"It was stuff I didn't want my son to see, to have the opportunity to see," Croom said.

Croom said an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union told him that if the school system allows one group, such as the Gideons on its campuses, then it must allow all groups.

"I know this doesn't bode well in the Bible Belt and Johnston County," Croom said. "But we can't differentiate any one group over another."

School Board Attorney Jimmy Lawrence (pictured left) agreed. He and Deputy Superintendent Ross Renfrow fielded questions from school board members.

In May, Lawrence said the school board received a letter co-signed by representatives of the ACLU and the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

"We had the ACLU wanting to know where we were regarding this policy," Lawrence said.

School Board member Keith Branch said that, in making this decision, they had Johnston County students' best interest at heart.

"If we knowingly open ourselves up to litigation, we're not acting in the best interests of Johnston County Schools," Branch said.

School Board Member Butler Hall said this issue had been very disturbing to him because of his religious beliefs.
"I've spent a great of time struggling with this policy," Hall said. But he said school officials had received requests to distribute literature, which he described as "blasphemous."

White differed with her colleagues. She said, "Johnston County is a faith-based community and we need to take risks for what's right.”

"This policy will have a domino effect on our schools," White said. "Whatever the outcome of this vote, I won't be part of this domino effect."

School Board Member Peggy Smith said she and her colleagues took an oath to defend the Constitution.

"We can't promote religion. We have a Christian society but its’ churches and parents who have the responsibility to carry on the fight," Smith said.

Will Johnston County Make Exceptions?
Before Johnston County school board members adopted a policy limiting the display of non-school related materials, they briefly discussed regulations, which allow annual after school events in which different community groups, including religious groups, can distribute literature on high school campuses.

School Board Attorney Jimmy Lawrence said Buncombe County has adopted a similar regulation.

The Buncombe County regulation allows high schools to sponsor "community information events" to provide organizations an opportunity to share informational material about the services they provide.

Buncombe County prohibits groups from distributing “vulgar, indecent or obscene” material, materials that contain personal attacks, encourage students to commit illegal acts “or acts that violate school rules,” or promote “unhealthy or illegal activities by children, such as tobacco or alcohol use."

Will Johnston County Schools Ban Gideons?

Will Johnston County Schools Ban Gideons?

Proposed policy will prohibit group from distributing Bibles on school campuses
 
For generations, Gideons International has distributed New Testaments at Johnston County Schools. If a new school board policy is passed, that era is over.

The Board of Education, at its Tuesday meeting, is scheduled to vote on a policy regarding the distribution and display of non-school materials.

Johnston County Schools spokesperson Tracey Peedin Jones confirmed the new policy will affect the Gideons.
"If this new policy passes," Jones said, "the Gideons will not be able to distribute Bibles."

Jones said no school policy exists directly related to the distribution of literature by outside agencies.

The Board has been utilizing case law and Supreme Court rulings in making decisions.
"At this point, Jones said, "the Board believes that the school system needs to implement their own policy that complies with the latest mandates of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court."

The proposed policy states, "Only school-sponsored and curriculum-related publications and materials may be distributed or displayed during the school day, on school grounds or at school activities."
At least one area pastor expressed disappointment in the proposed policy.
"Having worked with the Gideons all my life I am aware that it is becoming more and more difficult for them to get into our schools," Micro First Baptist Church Pastor Tim Stevens said.

“It would certainly be sad if at the same time that the Gideons are finding new opportunities in Russia and China to distribute Bibles they were excluded from doing so in our own public school system,” Rev. Stevens said.

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Troy's commentary:  If the policy passes, I hope that ALL such stuff will be stopped.  We get constant coupons for circuses, restaurants, fliers, and marketing materials that come home with our son THROUGH THE SCHOOL.  I find these items far more offensive than a Gideon's New Testament.

UPDATE: The Johnston County Superintendent of Schools has said that this was in response to the ACLU making a stink about an agnostic group that was denied access to the schools to pass out their literature. Basically, the school system, rather than standing up to them, wants to knuckle under to their pressure.

MORE NEWS COVERAGE: NBC17

Holy Crap! Troy agrees with the ACLU on something!

It is hard to argue with the sentiment expressed by the ACLU. With all the corruption we have seen in NC government and the fact that government is supposed to be open to the public, I am in full agreement with the ACLU on this one. No, Hell has not frozen over. Every once in a great while, the ACLU gets something right. It is a rarity, but common sense is common sense.

From The N&O:

The Rev. William Barber II is calling for legislative committees to be televised.

The head of the state's NAACP said Wednesday that too much of his group's agenda died last year in committee meetings that were not readily available to the public.

"We need to know what's happening in the committee meetings," he said. "If they can do it for the federal government on C-SPAN, we ought to be doing it in North Carolina.

"Bottom line: Open up this government."

The call comes two weeks after Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Graham called for webcams to broadcast the legislature online.

North Carolina provides live audio for sessions in both chambers, press conferences and all meetings in the Appropriations and Finance Committee rooms, but no video footage is available.

Barber said he would also like to see streaming audio of all of the committees.

More wusses bow down to the ACLU

I am sick and tired of people being such pussies about the ACLU and their Godless agenda. A school system has knuckled under to the pressure of the ACLU and decided to stop letting the Gideons hand out Bibles. There is NOTHING against that activity in the Constitution. People are so doggone uneducated about the Constitution and what it really says that they just accept what some bully organization that is Communistic says. This has got to stop. Cowards.

From the WMPM news site:

School System Bows To Pressure From ACLU - Under pressure from the American Civil Liberties Union, the Harnett County School system has stopped a long-standing tradition of allowing the Gideons to distribute Bibles to elementary students. Superintendent Dan Honeycutt said they had little choice but to end the distribution. "The American Civil Liberties Union contacted us and said it was a violation of Constitutional rights," Honeycutt said. "They asked us to stop handing out the Bibles." School board attorney Duncan McCormick said he did not recommend trying to fight the case. The national civil rights organization said it was a violation of federal law to hand out religious materials in elementary schools. If the school system tried to fight the ACLU, the school district would have needed to be prepared to take the case all the way to the US Supreme Court. The Gideons International is a worldwide organization that serves as an extended missionary arm of the church, according to their website www.gideons.org. Its purpose is to minister to people of all ages through testimony, and by distributing the Bible in everyday life. Local Gideons members contacted did not wish to comment on the school ban of Bible distribution. ACLU of North Carolina Legal Director Katy Parker said her organization was contacted by someone in the school system with a concern about children receiving Bibles from the Gideons. She said the practice is clearly illegal under federal law and she sent a letter to the local school system complaining about the Bible distribution, which Mr. Honeycutt said has gone on for many years. Parker said the Gideons can be on campuses of high schools under the law but can only distribute religious materials under strict restrictions, in certain circumstances. McCormick said there will still be Bibles in the schools. "This doesn't mean individual students cannot have Bibles," he said. "It means there cannot be distribution of any religious materials in the elementary schools."