ACLU sues North Putnam in fight for Alliance

BAINBRIDGE -- More than one year after the initial attempt to create the North Putnam Alliance, the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Indiana filed a lawsuit Tuesday on behalf of three students at North Putnam High School who have been denied the right to form the Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) club during non-instructional time at school.

The lawsuit claims that the school's denial violates students' First Amendment rights as well as the federal Equal Access Act and that a GSA is allowed the same rights of other extracurricular clubs.

The lawsuit comes after a November decision in which the school board voted against the club's formation with a split vote among its seven members.

"In some ways we've made some progress because the school board knows about us now," club sponsor Sheri Roach said after the November decision.

With board members Travis Lambermont, secretary Darrel Wiatt and board president Jill Summerlot voting in favor of the club; and Oliver Haste, John Hays and Jim Bowling voting in opposition to the club; the deciding vote was placed upon board vice president Mark Hoke.

Hoke abstained from voting, leaving the vote "tied" at 3-3.

At the request of superintendent Dan Noel, school corporation attorney Gene Hostetter explained that a split-vote would result in the motion being declared "dead," and therefore would be denied.

Noel offered the board a chance to reconsider its votes knowing this new information, although no member changed their votes.

According to the school corporation's record of minutes, the North Putnam Alliance had been placed on the agenda at least three times in 2014, once on June 9, again on Sept. 18 and finally at the Nov. 20 meeting in which the board voted against it.

In its lawsuit, the ACLU claims that in denying the club, the North Putnam Community School Corporation is violating both federal law and the U.S. Constitution.

"The lawsuit is clear in this matter," ACLU of Indiana legal director Ken Falk said. "There is no excuse for the school district's intransigence, which is causing real harm to its students."

According to former NPHS student Sidney Jennings, what a GSA does is often misunderstood, but the benefits extend far beyond its members.

"Once you build tolerance in one area, you see that spread into other areas," he explained.

Jennings worked with Tori Dossey to create the North Putnam Alliance at the high school during the 2013-14 school but seemed to run into an ongoing array of hurdles.

Even still, the two gathered support and seemed diligent in going through all the proper channels required for the creation of a club.

Alan Zerkel, who was the principal of NPHS at the time, was impressed with the students' commitment to the club.

"I thought they went about things the right way, they approached things the right way and they were patient when they needed to be patient," he said.

"I really appreciate that and respected them for that," Zerkel said about the students, explaining that the club could serve as a catalyst for dialogue.

"I would just hope it (the decision) would be an opportunity for dialogue where students could actually meet with those who can make things happen in a decision making role, that the students could meet (with the board) in some way to explain themselves, to answer questions and if research was needed to respond to that request and research and go back and talk through that," he elaborated.

After working to raise bullying awareness in schools, it was brought to Zerkel's attention that students were interested in creating a GSA club.

When petitions were brought to Zerkel showing an overwhelming demonstration of support for the GSA, he decided that there was indeed a legitimate reason for the formation of the club but that he did not have the power to approve its creation.

Clubs have to be created by a recommendation from the superintendent to the school board.

"I knew it would be a difficult situation but an opportunity at the same time," Zerkel said.

"I was never aware that this particular club would be dangerous to anybody or would be disruptive to anybody."

The lawsuit claims that LGBT students at the school have frequently been harassed and that students wanted to form the GSA to provide a place to educate the community and support vulnerable students, a claim that is echoed by the students who started this process.

"One of the biggest problems is just people not knowing about it. They can just go by what they hear or what they think, they just latch on to those little things they don't really know how big of an affect it has," Jennings said.

Dossey agreed with him, adding "it was more like, once you really sat down and you did explain to them 'this is why we need it, these kids do need this and here's the reasons why,' a lot of people kind of started to change their mind about how they saw it (the club)."

The ACLU of Indiana has been successful with this type of lawsuit in the past, reversing a similar decision by a school in the Town of Munster in July 2014.

The case, Gay-Straight Alliance at North Putnam High School, et al. v. North Putnam Community School Corporation, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Terre Haute Division.