CCSD, group differ about whether student had support of adviser for anti-abortion club

By Ian Whitaker

Friday, May 22, 2015 | 2:42 p.m.

Contrary to claims by the Clark County School District, a local high school student who wasn't allowed to form an anti-abortion group on campus appears to have had the required support of a faculty member.

After lawyers demanded Thursday that West Career and Technical Academy reverse its decision to prevent sophomore Angelique Clark from starting an anti-abortion student club, district officials released a statement saying the club did not have a faculty adviser willing to sponsor the club. In CCSD schools, student clubs need a teacher to serve as an adviser before they are allowed to operate.

A document released by Students for Life of America, the national group that has taken up Clark's cause, appears to show Angelique had a teacher on board. Signatures on her application form dated Dec. 17, 2014, show that science teacher Sandy Roden had volunteered to be the adviser.

“My faculty adviser signed my application and she has never told me that she wants to step down," Clark said in a statement.

A CCSD spokeswoman said the district was under the impression that Roden had signed the application but soon withdrew her support because of commitments with other groups and an after-school program.

In her original complaint, Clark said she didn't hear back from the school's administration until February, when the principal allegedly told her the club was too controversial and would exclude students who weren't anti-abortion. Clark said the administration didn't tell her that Roden had withdrawn her support.

The district said Thursday that it was investigating "facts and circumstances" related to the incident and had yet to make a decision.

The letter written by lawyers from the nonprofit Thomas More Society gave the district until June 1 to respond. The lawyers haven't said whether they will pursue legal action if the district does not reverse the school's decision.

It's the second free-speech case to emerge in Clark County schools this week. On Wednesday, lawyers from the Liberty Institute threatened legal action against a North Las Vegas charter school for not letting a student include a Bible verse in a presentation about herself.