School Clubs
Parent Advisory Council
March 19, 2013

Two Types of School clubs
• School Sponsored Clubs
• Non-School Sponsored Clubs

School-Sponsored Clubs
• Policy 6145, School-Sponsored Extra-Class
Activities
• The Board of Education encourages and supports extra-class activities that contribute to the accomplishment of education objectives of the school system.

School-Sponsored Clubs
• School-sponsored extra-class activities must be authorized by the local school and be provided faculty supervision.
• Each student must be informed in writing of the clubs and extra-class activities offered at each school.
• There are various academic and attendance qualifications for participation in schoolsponsored clubs and extra-class activities.

School-Sponsored Clubs
• In order to receive sponsorship by a school, each club or organization shall submit copies of its constitution, bylaws, qualifications for membership and limitation on the number of members, if any, to the school for review and approval.

School-Sponsored Clubs
• Curriculum-related clubs should enrich the regular curriculum by providing students the opportunity to explore a particular area of study to a greater extent than is allowed in the classroom (i.e. French Club, History Club, and
Robotics Club)

School-Sponsored Clubs
• Service clubs should provide service to the school and community. These clubs should foster leadership, citizenship and character development (i.e. Key Club, Ebony Society)

School-Sponsored Clubs
• Honor societies should provide enrichment activities in a particular subject area as well as service to the school and community (i.e.
National Honor Society, Spanish Honor
Society)

School-Sponsored Clubs
• Student interest clubs should provide students the opportunity to explore and learn in areas which are not directly related to the curriculum but which merit faculty supervision and school sponsorship because of the educational value of their purpose (i.e. Chess
Club, Photography Club, Girls on the Run).

School-Sponsored Clubs
• Religious and Political Clubs should not be sponsored by any school. It is the policy of the Board of Education to maintain a position of strict neutrality with respect to the religious and political views of its students in respect of their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech, association and religion. Such clubs may meet in a school in accordance with
Policy 6146, Student-Initiated Non-School-
Sponsored Extra-Class Activities.

School-Sponsored Clubs
• Non-Athletic Teams and Squads are student groups selected by local school officials to represent the school (i.e. debate team, High
I.Q. teams, drill teams, bands and other performing groups)

School-Sponsored Clubs
• Student Government
– All secondary schools shall have student government
– Primary schools are encouraged to have some form of student government
– Elected by popular vote of the pupils in accordance with the rules of the student government

School-Sponsored Clubs
• Athletics
– Interscholastic athletics can only be held at the secondary school level
– Athletics eligibility rules are much more involved and contained in other policies

Non-School-Sponsored Clubs
• Policy 6146, Student-Initiated Non-School-
Sponsored Extra-Class Activities
• The Board of Education authorizes its high
schools to sponsor services and student interest clubs which are not directly related to the curriculum of its school system and has therefore created a “limited open forum” for such clubs.

Non-School-Sponsored Clubs
• Student-initiated, non-school-sponsored high school student groups may use school facilities after the end of the instructional day, at reasonable times and places designated by the principal to conduct voluntary high school meetings.

Non-School-Sponsored Clubs
• Principals shall not deny equal access to any high school students who wish to conduct a meeting after school in accordance with this policy on the basis of religious, political, philosophical, or other content of the speech at such meetings.

Non-School-Sponsored Clubs
• “Student-initiated” groups are originated and directed solely by the students enrolled at a particular high school. Non-school persons or groups may not promote, lead, direct, conduct, control or regularly attend the meetings of such groups.
• “Non-school-sponsored” groups are not organized, directed, approved, endorsed, led, promoted or participated in by a school or school system employees.

Non-School-Sponsored Clubs
• Students wishing to form a non-school-sponsored club shall submit a request to the principal in writing with:
– Group name; and
– Organizers/officers of the club.
• The club cannot use the name of the school in the name of the club to avoid any inference that it is sponsored by the school.

Non-School-Sponsored Clubs
• Principal may deny the request if he/she has reason to believe:
– The meeting will materially and substantially interfere with the orderly conduct of educational activities;
– The meeting will not be truly voluntary and/or students will be coerced to attend in a disruptive or offensive manner;
– The group will prohibit students from attending meetings based on race, ethnic origin, sex or handicapping condition;
– The group will violate the rules governing use of school facilities; or
– The meeting or activity will promote unlawful activities.

Non-School-Sponsored Clubs
• School employees may be assigned to attend the meetings for custodial purposes only. The employee
may not:
– Promote, lead or participate in the meeting;
– Influence in form or content any prayer or religious activity;
– Require any person to participate in any prayer or religious activity at the meeting.
• The employee may:
– Maintain order;
– Enforce school rules; and
– Protect the welfare of students involved in the meeting.

Non-School-Sponsored Clubs
• Other rules:
– Announcements for clubs must include disclaimer that it is non-school-sponsored
– Club funds may not be deposited in school accounts
– Club may not be portrayed in the yearbook as a school-sponsored club/activity
– Club may not identify itself with the school in a way that would cause a person to believe it is school-sponsored

Surveys
• Attorneys office will be surveying all schools to determine:
– what clubs currently exist as school-sponsored and non-school-sponsored;
– whether school-sponsored clubs are being adequately advertised to all students; and
– whether the proper paperwork is on file in the schools for all of their clubs.