Carmel High to allow anti-abortion poster

Students in Carmel High School's Teens for Life club have reached an agreement with school administrators to hang an anti-abortion banner in the school's main cafeteria, ending the threat of a lawsuit.

Liberty Counsel, a nonprofit Christian organization based in Florida, threatened to sue the school after administrators removed a similar banner in November. The organization has been representing students in negotiations, saying they were unfairly singled out for their anti-abortion stance, an allegation school officials deny.

The banner contained hearts, the word "abortion," and the phrase, "3,000 Lives Are Ended Each Day."

"We are very thankful to Liberty Counsel for their assistance in this journey and very thankful for the community's support," Mary Carmen Zakrajsek, president of Carmel Teens for Life, said Thursday. "We get to put this poster back up, and that is a victory for us."

Exactly what led to the controversy is a matter of dispute.

Liberty Counsel claimed the high school violated the students' First Amendment rights. However, school officials said the banner was removed because it violated rules about how club signs can be displayed at the school, not because of a philosophical dispute about abortion. District officials say signs for the school's 150 clubs can only state the time, date and place of meetings, not messages on issues.

Under the agreement Liberty Counsel reached with the district, students will be able to display the banner for 10 days, the amount of time allowed under school guidelines. They also will be able to display a banner with their original message, in a one-time deal.

"Our decision to allow the sign to return is not the school’s endorsement of the message any more than our decision to remove the sign was the school’s rejection of that message,” said district attorney David Day in a prepared statement. “While we believe our decision to remove the sign can be supported if challenged in court, we prefer to use the time and resources of the school district focusing on education, not litigation."

The dispute arose after the students in Teens for Life got a little creative. Club members can hang up to 10 signs and display them in the cafeteria.

The club taped their 10 signs together to create one large banner and hung it in the cafeteria. Other students complained the sign contained an anti-abortion message they found offensive, and it was removed the next day.

“We want to be respectful of the rights of all our students,” said district spokeswoman Tammy Sander. “So rather than navigate the potential land mine of what’s offensive and what’s not, we simply don’t allow cafeteria signs to advocate causes. But we do provide meeting space for those students who want to meet up and have those important political and social discussions.”

Some basic facts remain in dispute. Zakrajsek says administrators approved the sign, which is a school requirement, before it was put up.  Hung during National Adoption Month, the word "abortion" was altered to say "adoption."

Sander, though, said text was added after the banner was approved, which Zakrajsek disputes.

Zakrajsek also said it was unclear to her that signs could only contain times, dates and places of meetings, not other messages. She recalled seeing a sign for Carmel High School Democrats that included an image of a donkey.

Sander said the district has rewritten the rules to make it clear that club signs cannot contain messages, cannot be larger than 8½ inches by 11 inches and cannot be combined to make a larger image. Also, signs that do not meet standards will be returned to the clubs. In the past, school officials had thrown them out, including the original Teens for Life sign.

Sander said students have more freedom to hang signs on their lockers advocating opinions, including on abortion.

“While we fully support our students’ First Amendment rights, the law does not treat school buildings and grounds as public places open to unfettered exercise of free speech,” Day said in a statement. “Schools are allowed to determine the time, place and manner of student expression and can prohibit expression as long as it applies that prohibition equally.”

Zakrajsek said the ordeal has fostered a dialogue about abortion at the school and grown awareness of the club, which has about 60 members. While not everyone agrees with her point of view, she thought the debate has been positive.

"It definitely sparked a conversation," she said. "That is something that we wanted, for students to talk about adoptions, about abortions. We have gotten so much support."

While she took the agreement as a victory, Zakrajsek would prefer it if all student clubs could hang signs with messages in order to foster debate.

The school does not have a club for students who support abortion rights. School clubs are started by students, though they do have an adult sponsor.

Curt Smith of the Indiana Family Institute has been supporting Teens for Life through the process. The institute and Zakrajsek have been supporting legislation at the Indiana General Assembly that would ensure schools make room for religious expression.

"You want a robust First Amendment environment for students to enjoy all of the privileges and rights they have as citizens to take up the tough topics of the day and wrestle with them," Smith said. "We were distressed when we learned what had happened and thought the administration at a minimum overreacted and may have gone even further."

Call IndyStar reporter Chris Sikich at (317) 444-6036. Follow him on Twitter: @ChrisSikich and at facebook/chris.sikich.

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