Wednesday, October 20, 1999
Teen moms settle suit over honor society ban
BY SUSAN VELA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON — Somer Chipman Hurston and Chasity Glass, the two Grant County High School graduates who said they weren't allowed in the school's National Honor Society (NHS) because they became pregnant, have settled their federal lawsuit against the school.
School district attorneys leaving the federal courthouse Tuesday said they agreed “in principle” to settle the case but that lingering details must be nailed down. They have promised to document the terms by Friday or face trial Monday.
U.S. District Judge William O. Bertelsman, who ruled in December that the young moms should be granted full membership while the court case remained unsettled, decided to keep the trial date in place.
“He's holding that trial over our heads,” said Suzanne Cassidy, the Covington attorney representing Grant County Schools.
She, fellow counsel Don Ruberg and Grant County Superintendent James Simpson participated in a 90-minute settlement conference before Ms. Cassidy announced the decision. David Friedman and Sara Mandelbaum, the American Civil Liberties Union attorneys who have represented Mrs. Hurston and Ms. Glass for free, participated by phone and could not be reached for comment.
Mrs. Hurston and Ms. Glass, now college freshmen, also were not present.
They sparked a national debate last year by filing the lawsuit against Grant County Schools. The debate had Patricia Ireland, president of the National Organization for Women, weighing in.
“We must not tolerate a double standard for young women and men when it comes to premarital sex,” she said. “Punishing young mothers is clearly sex discrimination and a violation of Title IX,” which prohibits discrimination against pregnant or parenting adults.
In spring 1998, Mrs. Hurston, then single, and Ms. Glass were the only two of 33 academically eligible juniors to be denied NHS membership at the high school. Mrs. Hurston was several months pregnant and Ms. Glass already had given birth.
They both had grade-point averages greater than NHS' minimum standard of 3.5 and were involved in extracurricular activities, which gave rise to their contention that they hadn't been granted membership because of their pregnancies.
School board attorneys have said the decision was based on nonmarital sexual relations and that, if they had known which boys had engaged in premarital sex, they wouldn't have admitted them, either.
When Judge Bertelsman ordered the young mothers to be allowed in NHS, he backed his ruling by saying that there was high probability that they could prove they were discriminated against. They graduated last spring wearing NHS sashes.
After Tuesday's settlement conference, Ms. Cassidy said Judge Bertelsman's December ruling had little to do with the decision to settle.
“Both sides voluntarily came to this conference recognizing that it sometimes makes sense to settle rather than litigate,” she said, adding that the federal lawsuit will not change the high school's NHS standards, which are based on national criteria.
Those are: proven excellence in scholarship, service, leadership and character.
Meeting the standards for the latter three are based on subjective opinion, Ms. Cassidy acknowledged.
Mrs. Hurston is attending a community college and Ms. Glass is enrolled at Morehead State University.
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