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(Gautam Krishnan\/Unsplash)<\/p>\nThe Collin County Democratic Party (CCDP) is accusing Allen Independent School District (AISD) of violating the federal Equal Access Act. This is after denying official recognition to the Progressive Eagles, a student-led Democratic club at Allen High School.<\/p>\n
According to documents obtained by CCDP, the district rejected the club\u2019s application because its mission was considered \u201cidentical to Politics for Teens\u201d a nonpartisan discussion group. Party leaders say that reasoning constitutes illegal viewpoint discrimination. As the Equal Access Act protects student organizations formed around specific political or philosophical perspectives.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe school\u2019s justification is legally indefensible and factually incorrect,\u201d said Jeremy Sutka, chair of the Collin County Democratic Party. \u201cTelling Democratic students they can\u2019t have their own club because a nonpartisan club exists is like telling the football team it can\u2019t form because a general \u2018sports club\u2019 meets on campus.\u201d<\/p>\n
CCDP officials also point out that Allen High School hosts several faith-based organizations \u2014 including BEMA, FCA, and DOLLS \u2014 with overlapping missions. The school also recognizes Students for Life of America, which advocates against abortion rights.<\/p>\n
(Gautam Krishnan\/Unsplash)<\/p>\n
\u201cThe school\u2019s policy is clear: you can have three Christian clubs, but you can\u2019t have one Democratic club,\u201d said Hana Fayed.\u00a0 \u201cThey allow a club that advocates against abortion rights but deny one that supports LGBTQ+ equality, healthcare access, and immigration reform.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the denial was challenged, school officials reportedly offered new justifications. This includes misapplying Texas Senate Bill 12 and citing inaccurate fundraising rules. CCDP says the administration also failed to respond within its own seven-day deadline for club approvals.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe shifting excuses\u2014from claiming duplication to misquoting state law\u2014show this was never about procedure,\u201d Sutka added. \u201cIt was about silencing a viewpoint they disagree with.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Collin County Democratic Party is calling on the Allen ISD School Board and Superintendent. This is to grant official recognition to the Progressive Eagles and apply district policies consistently. The organization also plans to mobilize members to attend the next AISD board meeting in support of the students.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese students have a constitutional right to organize,\u201d Sutka said. \u201cWe stand with the Progressive Eagles and will ensure their voices are heard.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Collin County Democratic Party (CCDP) is accusing Allen Independent School District (AISD) of violating the federal Equal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14231,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[160,162,161],"class_list":{"0":"post-14230","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-plano","8":"tag-plano","9":"tag-plano-headlines","10":"tag-plano-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}