Good News Club v. Milford Central Sch.

• Decision Date: 01 August 1998
• Docket Number: Docket No. 98-9494
• Citation: 202 F.3d 502
• Parties: (2nd Cir. 2000) THE GOOD NEWS CLUB, ANDREA FOURNIER and DARLEEN FOURNIER, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. MILFORD CENTRAL SCHOOL, Defendant-Appellee
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

Page 502

202 F.3d 502 (2nd Cir. 2000)

THE GOOD NEWS CLUB, ANDREA FOURNIER and DARLEEN FOURNIER, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. MILFORD CENTRAL SCHOOL, Defendant-Appellee.

Docket No. 98-9494

August Term, 1998

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

SECOND CIRCUIT

Argued: June 23, 1999

Decided: Feb. 3, 2000

Appeal from a summary judgment in favor of defendant public school entered in the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York (McAvoy, C.J.) in an action to compel access to school premises, the court having found that the plaintiff Club had sought the use of the premises for religious instruction and prayer rather than the teaching of values from a religious viewpoint and that the defendant could therefore lawfully exclude plaintiff from its facilities because the defendant had not opened its limited public forum for religious instruction or prayer.

Affirmed.

THOMAS J. MARCELLE, Slingerlands, NY, for Plaintiffs-Appellants.

FRANK W. MILLER, Ferrera, Fiorenza, Larrison, Barrett & Reitz, East Syracuse, NY for Defendant-Appellee.

(Jay Worona, New York State School Boards Association, Inc., Albany, NY) for the New York State School Boards Association, Inc., as amicus curiae.

Before: JACOBS, MINER and PARKER, Circuit Judges.

Judge Jacobs dissents in a separate opinion.

MINER, Circuit Judge:

Plaintiffs-appellants The Good News Club (the "Club"), Darleen Fournier, and her seven-year-old daughter Andrea,¹ appeal from a summary judgment entered in the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York (McAvoy, C.J.) in favor of defendant-appellee Milford Central School ("Milford" or "the school"). The action was brought to secure access to school premises for the purpose of conducting Club meetings, and the complaint contains demands for monetary as well as injunctive relief. The Club's claims are bottomed, inter alia, on the right to free speech under the First and Fourteenth Amendments. The district court found that the Club's activities were properly characterized as religious instruction and prayer and not the teaching of values or morals from a religious viewpoint. Accordingly, the court concluded that the school could properly exclude the Club because it had not opened its facilities for religious instruction or prayer.

For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

BACKGROUND

In August of 1992, the Milford Central School District adopted a policy (the "Community Use Policy" or the "Policy") pursuant to 414 of the New York State Education Law that governs the conditions under which outside organizations may utilize school facilities. The Community Use Policy provides that district residents may use school facilities for "holding social, civic and recreational meetings and entertainment events and other uses pertaining to the welfare of the community, provided that such uses shall be nonexclusive and shall be open to the general public," and otherwise consistent with state law. The Policy expressly forecloses use for religious purposes and requires that applicants certify that their proposed use complies with the Policy:

School premises shall not be used by any individual or organization for religious purposes. Those individuals and/or organizations wishing to use school facilities and/or grounds under this policy shall indicate on a Certificate Regarding Use of School Premises form provided by the District that any intended use of school premises is in accordance with this policy.

Under the Community Use Policy, the school has allowed a number of organizations to use its facilities, including the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts, and the 4-H Club.

The Good News Club is a community-based Christian youth organization open to children between the ages of six and twelve. The Club takes its name from the "good news" of Christ's gospel and the "good news" that salvation is available through belief in Christ. The purported purpose of the Club is to instruct children in moral values from a Christian perspective. It is affiliated with an organization known as Child Evangelism Fellowship ("CEF"), a Christian missionary organization that oversees and provides support to chapters of The Good News Club throughout the country. Among other things, the CEF provides teaching materials, prayer booklets for distribution called the "Daily Bread" and training to Club leaders.

A typical Club meeting begins when the participating children, who range from kindergarten-age to sixth graders, arrive at the meeting site. If a child remembers the "memory verse" from the previous week's meeting, she may recite it and is rewarded with a prize. The meeting officially opens with a prayer led by Reverend Stephen Douglas Fournier ² that gives thanks and entreats God for His blessing on the meeting. The group then sings the Good News Club theme song, the lyrics of which refer to Jesus Christ and are generally "about . . . good news."

The next segment of a Club meeting involves a "moral or value" lesson centered around a verse from either the Old or the New Testament and its teaching. To learn the "memory verse" for the lesson, the Club members play games that focus on repetition of the verse. Next, the children are told a Bible story that emphasizes the same moral value that is represented in the day's memory verse. The story concludes with a "challenge and invitation" segment, which challenges the children to live by the value taught in the day's lesson through trust in God and Jesus Christ. Depending on the elapsed time, when the story is concluded, the group leader may ask the children questions about the story or play a game that emphasizes the teaching in the story. The group may also sing a song that relates to the story.

The record includes a number of specific lesson plans provided by CEF for conducting Club meetings.³ One such lesson, taught by Darleen Fournier according to the lesson plan, is entitled "Israel Demands a King" from the series "David: A Man after God's Heart." The teaching of the lesson is centered around a verse from Ephesians 5:17, "[w]herefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is." According to the materials, the "teaching objective" is that "[t]he saved child will desire God's best, allowing God to have first place in his life" and the "main teaching" is to "[g]ive God first place in your life."

The lesson plan distinguishes in the application of the memory verse between those children who are "saved" and those who are "unsaved." The lesson applies to the saved in that "[i]f you have believed on the Lord Jesus as your Savior, one of the wisest decisions you can make is to give God first place in your life. Do and say those things that will please Him." As for the unsaved, "[i]f you have never believed on Jesus to save you from sin, you can be sure this is the wisest and most important decision you will ever make. You will be given an opportunity later in class today to believe on Jesus."⁴

The story in "Israel Demands a King" centers around events recounted in I Samuel 8-10, wherein the elders of Israel requested that Samuel appoint a king over them, contrary to God's will. Notwithstanding Samuel's warning of dire consequences, the people insisted that a king be appointed, and Samuel was directed by God to anoint Saul as the new king. Though Saul accepted the role as king, Samuel "felt sad for his people who had rejected God as their King. He knew this was not the best way. It could only lead to sorrow and trouble for them."

"Israel Demands a King" includes the following "Challenge and Invitation" segment:

CHALLENGE

If you have believed on the Lord Jesus, trusting Him to save you, will you remember this week that God's best for you is to give Him first place in your life? When you are tempted to allow other things to take over that special place, will you stop and think about all God has done for you? Remember what our memory verse says. (Say Ephesians 5:17 together.) Don't be foolish like the people of Israel, but understand that God's will for you is that you be a person after His own heart, giving Him first place in your life. If you have been allowing other things to have first place, confess that sin to God. Ask Him to help you keep Him first.

I have a slip of paper with a number one printed on it that says, "Keep God first this week!" You could put this paper on your mirror, by your bed or on your locker door at school. Let it be a reminder to you all week long to give God first place in your life.

INVITATION

God cannot be first in your life until you believe on Him as your Savior from sin. If you are willing to admit to God that you have sinned, and you believe that the Lord Jesus suffered and died to take the punishment for your sin and came alive again, you can be saved today. The Bible says, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved" (Acts 16:31). Will you believe on Him, trusting Him to save you? You can talk to the Lord right now. Say something like this: "Dear Lord Jesus, I do believe You died for me. I'm sorry for the wrong things I've done. Please take away my sin and help me obey You. Thank You for saving me today." (Ask those who prayed this prayer to meet you in a designated place after class so you can answer any questions they may have. Remind the children that if they did not pray now, they can talk to the Lord even after they leave.)

After the story, if time permits, the group leader shares a "missionary story" with the children, which is described by Reverend Fournier as a "fictitious stor[y] that deal[s] with some part of the world where missionary activity is going on."⁵ After the missionary segment, the group leader may play another game with the children and may award prizes based on recitation of the memory verse and on their performance in the games. If time allows, the group may sing another song. At various times throughout the meeting, the group may pray for "CEF missionaries" and to "receive...