School district rescinds approval of After School Satan Club, cites policy violation
A Pennsylvania school district reversed its decision to allow The Satanic Temple-sponsored After School Satan Club to use its facilities, citing a violation of the school board's policies and threats that have impacted the safety of students and staff.
Superintendent Jaime Vlasaty of the Saucon Valley School District in Leigh Valley rescinded approval of the club following a threatening voicemail message the district received last Tuesday.
The threatening voicemail reportedly expressed disapproval of the club. As a result of the message, the school closed last Wednesday.
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According to a Monday message from the superintendent published on the district's Facebook page, the perpetrator responsible for the voicemail was arrested by the police in North Carolina and is currently in custody.
The Feb. 20 initial approval for the club to meet at a local middle school sparked a week of controversy for the school district.
In a Friday email to community members, republished by Leigh Valley News, Vlasaty said the After School Satan Club failed to meet the requirements cited in School Board Policy 707. The policy allows outside organizations to use the school's facilities so long as they do not interfere with the district's educational operations. Vlasaty's email didn't elaborate on how the club violated the policy.
"As a result of this violation, the educational programming and activities of the District [have] been significantly impacted and it has caused unequivocal disruption to the District's daily operations," Vlasaty wrote.
"Our community has experienced chaos. Our students, staff and teachers have had to endure a threat to their safety and welfare," she continued. "The gravity of feelings of instability, anxiety and fear have been profound."
The superintendent called on the school district community to "eliminate threatening, hateful and divisive language and behavior" and to make a "commitment [to] supporting our students and reinforcing the values of our community."
"I firmly believe that we can create a safe and inclusive environment within our District where everyone is respected and valued no matter their opinions and beliefs, but we must first model this within our homes, our community and with one another."
In a separate statement to Leigh Valley News, June Everett, a minister in The Satanic Temple in Colorado and campaign director for the After School Satan Club, said the Pennsylvania club was to be the first of its kind in the state.
Everett stressed that the club does not worship Satan but supports individual rights over "tyrannical authority."
The After School Satan Club at the Pennsylvania school district was supposed to meet on March 8, according to the outlet. Fliers promoting the club reportedly advertised that the group was open to children ages 5-12 and that students from other districts could attend meetings if they had a permission slip.
Vlasaty and The Satanic Temple did not immediately respond to The Christian Post's request for comment.
Vlasaty defended her decision to rescind approval for the club at a school board hearing on Tuesday, where about a dozen community supporters of the After School Satan Club challenged her decision as a violation of constitutional rights. The superintendent said that the club's advertisements violated policy by not clearly communicating that "the activities are not being sponsored by the school district," according to The Morning Call.
"After the district received evidence that advertisements, social media posts and the like violated this policy, I made the decision to rescind," she was quoted as saying at the board meeting.
Although the advertisements named The Satanic Temple and Reason Alliance as sponsors, they didn't expressly state that the club was not sponsored by the school.
Vlasaty also condemned the vitriol directed at her by those in the community who opposed the initial decision to approve the club.
"I received messages stating that I should not be around children, that I am woke, that I am spineless, that I disregard the Constitution, that I worship Satan, that I should be ashamed to call myself a mother, that the lessons that I teach my children should be called into question, and that my two small children and I should burn in hell," she said.
As CP reported, The Satanic Temple filed a lawsuit last April after another Pennsylvania school district voted down a request to form an After School Satan Club at the Northern Elementary School.
The Dillsburg-based Northern York County School Board rejected the request in an 8-1 vote. In an April 19 video clip shared by the York Daily Record, parents can be seen applauding after the board voted down the club.
The mother who suggested the formation of the After School Satan club believed it would serve as a secular alternative to the Joy El Christian club, which operates in nine of 16 county school districts and offers off-campus activities.
Mathew Kezhaya, general counsel for The Satanic Temple, told CP at the time that the lawsuit concerned whether the school district discriminated against the group.
Kezhaya claimed that the school told the group to remove the word "Satan" to improve its chances of approval and that the superintendent voiced concerns about the club prompting "public backlash."
"This is direct evidence that the government improperly considered the popularity of the club's communicative activity when determining whether the club should be entitled to equal access to government property," Kezhaya said.
"The First Amendment prohibits a government from considering the popularity of communicative activity when determining whether to facilitate that communicative activity on equal terms with other, similarly situated, groups."
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follower her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
