WV HS Students Hold Walkout After Forced To Attend Church Revival At School W 'Doors Locked': ACLU

[appalachiablue]

-AP News, More than 100 students at Huntington High School in West Virginia staged a walkout to protest a Christian assembly they were forced to attend during school hours. (Feb. 9). / Students say they were forced to stay at a Christian revival held at school on Feb. 2, 2022.



- Max Nibert, HHS senior.

- The Guardian: West Virginia students to stage walkout over Christian revival at high school. Students instructed to raise their arms in prayer at event in public school’s auditorium.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/feb/09/west-virginia-huntington-high-school-walkout-christian-revival
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- Daily Kos, Feb. 9, 2022. - 'Jewish student reportedly asks to leave evangelical revival, told classroom doors are locked.'

In a West Virginia community of fewer than 50,000 people, students were ushered into an assembly between their calculus and European history classes, 16-year-old Cameron Mays told ABC News. They were told to close their eyes in prayer and urged to turn their lives over to Christ to avoid the ever-popular threat of eternal damnation, Mays said.

When Bethany Felinton's Jewish son asked to leave, a teacher told him he couldn't because the classroom was locked. “Is this legal?” one student reportedly texted to his father. “My mind was blown,” Max Nibert, a senior at the school, Huntington High, told WCHS. “I couldn’t believe it.”

Not exactly how I’d want my children introduced to Christianity. When Cabell County Schools spokesperson Jedd Flowers was asked how an evangelical revival became a requirement during the school's daily COMPASS "noninstructional break," he said teachers mistook the voluntary event organized by the school's chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes as required. “It’s unfortunate that it happened,” Flowers said. "We don’t believe it will ever happen again.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia and other advocacy groups are arguing the mistake never should've even been a possibility. “If you’re a public school student, you don’t check your constitutional rights at the schoolhouse doors,” the nonprofit said in an article shared in response to the news. “But whether schools can punish you for speaking out depends on when, where, and how you decide to express yourself.”

Students organized a walkout in protest on Wednesday...

More,
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/2/9/2079412/-Evangelical-preacher-given-carte-blanche-access-to-minors-at-Christ-or-hell-style-school-revival

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

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~ Way to go West Virginians!

[nature-lover]

1. Good for them!

[MyOwnPeace]

2. Boy, good thing for them........

that they have a Senator that cares about their 'rights' and the Constitution.......

[leftieNanner]

3. The Doors Were Locked?????

Sure glad there wasn't a fire or anything.

Even above the church/state issue, this is unconscionable!

What a great way to "encourage" these young people to turn to religion.

[3Hotdogs]

13. Fire code violation.

[CurtEastPoint]

4. School spox is JEDD FLOWERS? Were the Clampetts otherwise occupied?

[appalachiablue]

5. So funny.. original too

[Maraya1969]

6. Isn't that False Imprisonment ?

"False imprisonment is an act punishable under criminal law as well as under tort law. Under tort law, it is classified as an intentional tort. A a person commits false imprisonment when he commits an act of restraint on another person which confines that person in a bounded area."

[appalachiablue]

8. It's really bad. I've read of workplaces doing this, in the US...

And now, not only the tragic NYC Shirtwaist Factory fire 100 years ago, but contemporary. Maybe Amz or garment factories in LA, I can't recall right now but I was shocked...

[dchill]

7. Not to put too fine a point on it, but Jesus Christ!

[appalachiablue]

9. +1 Amen!

[Drum]

10. I grew up in WV

…and I say fuck that shit! Standing with brave students! 💪

[Drum]

11. Thanks for hearts, loving DUers!

[keithbvadu2]

12. Many of our right wing brethren want to put public prayer and the Bible back in the schools.

Many of our right wing brethren want to put public prayer and the Bible back in the schools.

They have no qualms about using the gov't to foist their own religious beliefs on the children in public schools without letting the parents decide how they want their children raised.