Pennsylvania school district sued for barring student from opt-out of social emotional learning class
Jeremiah Poff
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A central Pennsylvania school district is facing a lawsuit after it repeatedly rejected requests by a student’s parents who cited their Christian faith while attempting to opt their child out of a social emotional learning class.
The conservative legal organization America First Legal filed the lawsuit in the state court against West Shore School District, near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Wednesday, alleging that their client’s religious rights had been violated when the school district refused to honor their religious exemption request. The lawsuit says that the parents had sought to exempt their child from the district’s “Character Strong” curriculum, saying that the lesson plans violated their Christian religious beliefs.
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“By not allowing them to opt-out their children from objectionable curriculum and materials that violate their religious beliefs, the West Shore School District has violated the constitutional and statutory rights of our clients, despite its unambiguous obligations under the law,” America First Legal senior adviser Ian Prior said in a statement. “Public schools have a duty to work with parents to provide an education that is in the best interests of their child’s achievement, while respecting parents’ rights under the Constitution and Pennsylvania law.”
The district website says that the “Character Strong” program, a social emotional learning curriculum, teaches elementary and middle school students to “learn the value of empathy, service, and connection.”
“Along with strong academics, our goal is to teach students to be capable, compassionate people, and to empower them to become the best versions of themselves,” the district’s website says. “When our students feel safe, supported, and part of a community, they perform better, act with more kindness, and want to show up to school each day. We believe this curriculum will have a powerful and positive impact on the climate and culture of our school, and it is our hope that families will join us in this work to build a kinder school culture and, ultimately, a kinder world.”
Proponents of social emotional learning, or SEL, say the programs are a necessary way to teach students how to emotionally connect with other students and be empathetic towards people of different backgrounds and experiences.
But critics of SEL say that the focus on empathy and compassion is merely a cover for introducing ideas of white privilege and systemic racism — hallmarks of critical race theory — into classroom instruction. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit repeatedly attempted to opt-out of the program, but were rebuffed by administrators who told the parents they had “not identified specific instruction within the curriculum which conflicts with your religious beliefs.”
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“Despite denying plaintiffs’ their respective religious exemptions, defendants have granted the religious exemption requests of other parents in the School District,” the lawsuit says.
West Shore School District did not respond to a request for comment.