The Board of Education recognizes the educational values inherent in student participation in the extracurricular life of the school, and supports the concept of the formation of student groups for such purposes as building sound social relationships, developing interests in an academic area, and gaining an understanding of the elements and responsibilities of good citizenship.
The Superintendent of Schools, with the aid of students, faculty and administration, is charged with developing procedures for registering and regulating student groups or clubs. Such procedures shall ensure that the district will register any group organized for a purpose not prohibited by Board policy or by law, if such group submits a list of its members designated as contacts, a copy of its charter and/or bylaws. Student groups may not restrict membership on the basis of race, sex, national origin or other arbitrary criteria.
The Board may prohibit the formation of any clubs, including fraternities or sororities, or any other secret society, whose deliberations and activities have caused or created, or are likely to cause or create, a disruption of or interference with the school program.
Administrative regulations governing the use of school facilities shall abide by the Equal Access Act in the creation of a “limited open forum.” All noncurricula-related student activities, regardless of religious or political content, shall have the same opportunities as any other such activity to operate on school grounds.
Cross-ref:
- 5200, Cocurricular and Extracurricular Activities
- 5252, Student Activities Funds Management
Ref:
- Education Law §§207; 1709-a; 2503-a; 2554-a
- Equal Access Act, 20 U.S.C.A. §§4071-4074
- 8 NYCRR Part 172
- Matter of Jimenez, 9 EDR 172
- Board of Education of the Westside Community Schools v. Mergens, No. 88- 1597 (U.S. June 4,1990)
- Garnett By Smith v. Renton School Dist. No. 403, 865 F.2d 1121 (9th Cir., 1989)
- Thompson v. Waynesboro Area School Dist., 673 F.Supp. 1379 (1987)
- Student Coalition v. Lower Merion School Dist. Bd., 633 F.Supp. 1040 (1986)
- Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School Dist., 393 U.S. 503, 89 S.Ct. 733 (1969)
- Healy v. James, 408 U.S. 169, 92 S.Ct. 2338 (1972)
Adoption date: May 27, 1997
Reviewed: May 22, 2017