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ACLU files suit in Wilkes
Pacifist asks for access to schools
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Published: January 6, 2009
NORTH WILKESBORO
The ACLU filed a lawsuit in Wilkes Superior Court yesterday on behalf of N.C. Peace Action and a Wilkes County pacifist who says she has been denied access to talk to students about alternative careers to the military.
The dispute between the school system and Sally Ferrell, a Wilkes representative for N.C. Peace Action, has been going on for nearly four years. Both sides said they regret that the issue is going to court, but both said they are convinced that their side is right.
The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina Legal Foundation.
Ferrell said that military recruiters are allowed in the county high schools to present information to attract students, and she wants to recruit for such groups as AmeriCorps, while also presenting information that could lead students to decide that the military is not the right choice for them.
Ferrell says she has tried to talk to students about the same things that military recruiters talk about, including how long the commitments are, the working conditions and other information.
"We'd like to be able to go to the high schools and present an alternative viewpoint," she said. "It's not fair for the students to only hear one side of the story. We just want a fair deal."
Stephen Laws, the superintendent of Wilkes County Schools, said that the school system's policy allows recruiters to promote the benefits of the recruiter's own program or group, but not to denigrate other groups.
"To take a recruiting table to say negative things is not in keeping with what our recruiting tables are for," he said.
Fred Johnson, the attorney for the Wilkes school board, said that the policy provides equal access for presentations to students. "This forum is not designed to provide an opportunity for attacking a competing educational institution or employer," Johnson said in a written statement.
Both Johnson and Laws said that the school system will vigorously defend itself against the lawsuit.
"(The lawsuit) is tremendously disappointing," Laws said. "We've got so many things to work on for the rest of the school year, but Wilkes County Schools will not be intimidated by a lawsuit or the threat of a lawsuit. We're going to do what we need to do for our young people."
Last month, the Forsyth County government rejected a bid to settle a lawsuit filed by the ACLU in 2007 on behalf of several residents challenging the constitutionality of allowing prayer before county board meetings.
The lawsuit filed yesterday in Wilkes County was on behalf of Ferrell and Bill Towe, a Wake County man who is the director of the nonprofit N.C. Peace Action. The lawsuit says that the school system is violating the plaintiff's First Amendment rights that would allow them to present truthful information on the same topic that military recruiters are allowed to talk about, and it also violates the same rights under the North Carolina constitution.
The lawsuit asks for an injunction that would allow access to the high schools for Ferrell, Towe and N.C. Peace Action, as well as a judgment that they be allowed to present truthful information about military careers even if the information presents the disadvantages of military careers.
Ferrell first wrote a letter to the school system in March 2005, asking for access and saying that military recruiters were presenting biased and incomplete information.
In an interview yesterday, she said she had felt that recruiters had been too aggressive with her son when he was a student at Wilkes Central High School and that teachers complained to her that recruiters were often in the lunchroom and putting too much pressure on students.
After the school system turned down her request, Ferrell contacted the ACLU-NCLF, which sent a letter to the Wilkes schools superintendent in September 2005.
As a result of the dispute, the school board adopted a policy that limited recruiters' access to two visits a semester.
In April 2007, the school board amended the policy to prohibit a recruiter from discouraging a student from entering a specific job or career by denigrating its nature or purpose, but allowed the presentation of accurate information which some might interpret as criticism.
The policy said that presentations that denounce certain careers or jobs may be banned.
Shortly after that policy was adopted, Ferrell visited all five of the county high schools. Nearly 500 students picked up information from her table. She said she was well received and that there were no incidents.
But when she re-applied to visit the schools in the fall of 2007 and again in the fall of 2008, she was denied access. Superintendent Laws said they had received complaints from students and adults that Ferrell denigrated the military during her initial visits.
Laws sent an e-mail to Ferrell on Sept. 14, 2008, saying that her purpose seemed to be to negatively portray the military and that the schools' policy does not allow negative recruiting. He said yesterday that if Ferrell wants to come back and recruit for AmeriCorps or other entities, she will be scheduled on the next available date.
Ferrell said yesterday that she has abided by the school system's policies and that the life-altering aspects of war make the issue especially urgent.
"I regret we have not been able to be in the schools except for a brief period during the Iraq War and hope we will be there soon," she said in an e-mail.
■ Monte Mitchell can be reached in Wilkesboro at 336-667-5691 or at mmitchell@wsjournal.com.
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