Steirer v. Bethlehem Area School Dist.

• Citation: 789 F. Supp. 1337
• Decision Date: 02 April 1992
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 90-6046.
• Parties: Barbara STEIRER and Thomas Steirer, individually and as parents and guardians of Lynn Ann Steirer, a minor, and Thomas Moralis and Barbara Moralis, individually and as parents and guardians of David Stephen Moralis, a minor, Plaintiffs, v. The BETHLEHEM AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania

789 F. Supp. 1337

Barbara STEIRER and Thomas Steirer, individually and as parents and guardians of Lynn Ann Steirer, a minor, and Thomas Moralis and Barbara Moralis, individually and as parents and guardians of David Stephen Moralis, a minor, Plaintiffs, v. The BETHLEHEM AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT, Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 90-6046.

United States District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania.

April 2, 1992.

Robert J. Magee and Eric R. Strauss, Worth Law Offices, P.C., Allentown, Pa., for plaintiffs Barbara Steirer, Thomas Steirer, Thomas Moralis, Barbara Moralis, Lynn Ann Steirer and David Stephen Moralis.

Andrew E. Faust, Curtin and Heefner, Doylestown, Pa., Michael I. Levin, Cleckner and Fearen, Willow Grove, Pa., for defendants Bethlehem Area School Dist., Thomas J. Dolusio, Ellen Pagano, Barbara Huth, Joseph McCarthy, John Spirk, Sr., Ruth Prosser, Uriel Trujillo, Lawrence Kisslinger, Lynn Glancy, and Robert Thompson.

MEMORANDUM & ORDER

HUYETT, District Judge.

This action arises as a result of the adoption by the Bethlehem Area School District of a revised program of high school studies which includes a community service graduation requirement. Plaintiffs, Barbara Steirer and Thomas Steirer, individually and as parents and guardians of Lynn Ann Steirer, and Thomas Moralis and Barbara Moralis, individually and as parents and guardians of David Stephen Moralis, bring this action against defendants Bethlehem Area School District, Thomas J. Dolusio, Ellen Pagano, Barbara Huth, Joseph McCarthy, John Spirk, Sr., Ruth Prosser, Uriel Trujillo, Lawrence Kisslinger, Lynn Glancy and Robert Thompson. Plaintiffs claim that the community service program and graduation requirement adopted by the Bethlehem Area School District violates the First, Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendment rights of the minor plaintiffs and of all students attending Bethlehem Area schools. Both plaintiffs and defendants have filed motions for summary judgment pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 56. For the reasons stated below, I shall grant defendants' motion for summary judgment and deny plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment.

I. INTRODUCTION.

On April 30, 1990, the Bethlehem Area School District ("school district"), by a majority vote of its Board of Directors, adopted a program of high school studies which includes a community service graduation requirement. The program requires that every student in the school district provide sixty (60) hours of community service between the start of ninth grade and the completion of twelfth grade.¹ The required community service can be provided through an agency approved by the school district, through an independent program selected by the district or through an independent program selected by the student and approved by the appropriate school officials.

The plaintiffs in this action are two sets of parents who reside within the school district and their two children, each of whom attends a public high school operated by the school district. The defendants are the school district, members of the school district's board of directors, and the school district superintendent. The school district is located in Lehigh County and Northampton County and covers approximately forty-two square miles. The school district serves a population of approximately 100,000 and enrollment in all age groups is approximately 12,000. Approximately 3,500 students are enrolled in high schools in the school district.

Under the program adopted by the Bethlehem Area School District, any community service project must meet the course objectives outlined in the curriculum course guide. The four (4) course objectives identified and outlined in the curriculum course guide are as follows: (1) students will understand their responsibilities as citizens dealing with community issues; (2) students will know that their concern about people and events in the community can have positive effects; (3) students will develop pride in assisting others; and (4) students will provide services to the community without receiving pay.

The school district's superintendent, Thomas Dolusio, states that the purposes of the community service program include the following:

a. To help students acquire life skills;

b. To help students learn about the significance of rendering service to their community;

c. To give students a sense of worth;

d. To give students a sense of pride;

e. To teach students about community organizations;

f. To give students a sense of appreciation of the worth of community organizations;

g. To help students understand their responsibilities as citizens in dealing with community issues;

h. To teach students that their concerns about people and events in the community can have positive effects;

i. To improve students' self-esteem;

j. To improve the students' ego and moral development;

k. To give students the opportunity to explore new roles, identities and interests;

l. To enhance the students' willingness to take and accept new challenges;

m. To have students assume responsibility and to accept the consequence of their actions;

n. To develop intellectual development and academic learning in such areas as the expression of ideas, reading and record-keeping;

o. To promote higher-level thinking skills such as open-mindedness;

p. To enhance the skills of learning from experience;

q. To have students learn about and be exposed to service-related skills.

See Dolusio Aff. at ¶ 17.

Phyliss Walsh, the community service program director, was directed by the school district to write the curriculum for the program. As originally drafted, the community service program possessed two components. The first component of the draft program contemplated the classroom teaching and training of decision making, problem solving, and stress management skills. The second component of the draft program required the actual service to the community.

The program adopted by the school district only includes the community service component. Certain aspects of the classroom component of the draft program have, however, been incorporated into the community service component, including the integration of small group meetings into the program. The community service program was not designed to ensure and does not require that a correlation exist between a student's community service experience and that student's classroom coursework.

None of the defendants who voted in favor of adopting the community service program and graduation requirement expressed any dissatisfaction with the program's course objectives and none of the defendants proposed any amendments to the stated objectives of the community service program. All of the defendants who voted for the challenged program believe that community service is an admirable and worthwhile endeavor. Further, all of the defendants believe that all people should participate in community service in one manner or another.

The purpose of the community service program is not to require children to provide clerical or maintenance services to the school district. Rather, as stated in the course objectives, the purpose of the program is to expose students to community service and to make students aware of the positive aspects of providing community service. The defendants decided to make the community service program mandatory because they believed that certain students would benefit from the community service program and would not participate absent a mandatory program.

Pursuant to the community service program's requirements, each student must apply to the school for approval of the particular community service project that the student wishes to pursue. The school district uses separate application forms for students to apply for approval of each project and service. Many and varied volunteer activities will satisfy the community service requirement. For example, marching in the school band during the Halloween parade, playing with children at the Jewish Community Center, stuffing envelopes for the Lehigh Presbytery and walking and grooming dogs and cats for the SPCA all qualify as community service under the Bethlehem Area School District program.

The school system monitors each student's community service project through two required meetings between each student and a designated counselor. At these student meetings, the counselor is required to review each student's community service project. The meetings with the counselors can last for as little time as five (5) minutes. The student:counselor meetings represent the only formal involvement of the Bethlehem Area School District in monitoring the progress of the community service program. The two minor plaintiffs, Lynn Ann Steirer and David Stephen Moralis, participated in a community service program meeting with a counselor. Between five and six students attended this meeting which lasted approximately fifteen (15) minutes.

In exchange for providing sixty (60) hours of service to the community without pay, each student receives .5 units of credit toward the school's credit requirement for high school graduation. The community service component of the school's curriculum must be completed as a condition of graduation from the Bethlehem Area School District. The school district's complete high school graduation requirements are as follows:

                                Classes of     Classes of
                                1992 & 1993    1994 & 1995
                                                            Grade When
                Required Courses       Credit   Credit    Usually Taken
                Language Arts           4.0      4.0       1.0 credit per year
                World Cultures 9        1.0      1.0       9
                World Cultures 10       1.0      1.0      10
                U.S. History            1.0      1.0      11
                Government               .5       .5      12
                Economics                .5       .5      12
                Mathematics             3.0      4.0       1.0 credit per year
                Science                 3.0      4.0       1.0 credit — Grade 9
                                                           1.0

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