Oklahoma school district reaches settlement in lawsuit over Bible club

By The Associated Press

05.03.01

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TULSA, Okla. — Three students and a former employee of a Tulsa high school have tentatively settled a lawsuit against the school district over their rejected efforts to start a school Bible club.

The plaintiffs — student Doris Walton, graduates Barry Walton and Toshia Goodou and former school computer specialist Troy Bell — stand to receive settlements, lawyers for both sides confirmed May 1.

School district attorney Doug Mann said the amounts of the settlements will be announced at a school board meeting May 7.

The plaintiffs claimed in the July 14 federal lawsuit that former McLain Principal Travis Henderson would not allow notices about organizing the Bible club in a school bulletin or within the school during the 1999-2000 school year.

A series of U.S. Supreme Court rulings have indicated religious groups that are started and led by students may exist in public schools.

The lawsuit also alleged that McLain faculty and staff members were forbidden to meet at the school before the school day for "prayer and religious association" in 1998-99, even though meetings were allowed for nonreligious purposes.

A proposal in the Tulsa school district would address concerns raised in the lawsuit, plaintiffs' attorney Andrew Morsman said.

The proposal would send middle school and high school principals in the district to seminars about the Equal Access Act. It would also add a paragraph concerning the Equal Access Act to the students' rights and responsibilities handbook.

A pamphlet concerning students' rights — including religious freedoms — will be issued to all teachers.

The written settlement agreement will contain a provision in which the district admits no wrongdoing, Mann said.

Henderson, the former McLain principal, is now the principal at Pershing Alternative Center. Mann said his departure from McLain was voluntary and had nothing to do with the allegations in the suit.