BY ANDREA TORTORA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON - Grant County Schools has a major flaw in its reasoning for denying National Honor Society membership to two teen mothers, attorneys for the girls say.
In court documents filed this week in U.S. District Court, attorney David Friedman said the school district's passive approach to identifying sexually active students is just a different name for sexual discrimination.
The high school's only calibration for whether a student is sexually active is pregnancy, Mr. Friedman wrote.
The documents were a reply to the district's reasons the girls should not be immediately admitted in the National Honor Society. Somer Chipman Hurston and Chasity Glass, with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), are asking for immediate induction into the society. Mr. Friedman said the girls would suffer further discrimination if not made honor society members because membership is often tied to college scholarships.
The reply also stated the school district:
- Does not know the sexual activity of males because it does not ask them and they do not exhibit any visible signs of such activity.
- Does not know the sexual activity of females who do not become pregnant or exhibit signs of pregnancy.
- Does not know the sexual activity of females who choose to have an abortion and therefore exhibit no signs of their sexual activity.
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- Does know about the sexual activity of females who carry their pregnancy to term only because they show visible signs of their condition.
The school district maintains, according to documents filed last month by Suzanne Cassidy, that there is no proof the girls were treated differently than any male student would be treated if the selection committee knew the male was a parent or was sexually active.
The case is set for a hearing at 1:30 p.m. Nov. 24 before Judge William O. Bertlesman.
The girls, both 17 and both with qualifying grades and extracurricular activities, were barred from their high school's honor society this spring.
The ACLU took the case for free, filing a federal discrimination lawsuit against the school district in August. It says the school singled out girls who were obviously pregnant and blocked them from National Honor Society membership under standards of "character."
