A pilot Club America program at Carl Sandburg High School, part of Turning Point USA, has stirred up an outcry online and brought a few students and one resident to the Orland High School District 230 board meeting Thursday.
But the school board said in a statement it can not deny the rights of students to organize on campus.
Club America is a national movement with more than 1,200 school chapters supported by Turning Point USA, a nonprofit organization founded in 2012 by Charlie Kirk that aims to identify, educate, train and organize students to promote the principles of fiscal responsibility, free markets and limited government, according to its national website.
The program at Carl Sandburg High School has received criticism on social media since its founding, with now over 1,200 petition signatures opposing the program’s existence. But students specifically said Thursday they are concerned with the club’s third-party influence and requirement for students to remain in regular communication with a Turning Point officer.
Several students argued the program’s outside influence violates a section of the Equal Access Act prohibiting people outside a school from directing conduct, controlling or regularly attending activities of student groups.
“Club America not only promotes a one sides agenda but actively speaks out against differing beliefs, which squashes out any ideas of having free thought,” said Kate Kanagy, a junior at Carl Sandburg.
“The students here today standing in front of you, telling you that without a place for every single student to be welcomed and represented and safe within our schools, this group is not an opportunity for free speech but is a forced narrative,” she said.
Kanagy said she would rather have an independent political club without outside influences at her school. She said she is working with school administration on forming a unity club, which she said would be an unbiased club governed by an executive board with diverse political viewpoints, instead of the Turning Point program.
The board issued a statement Thursday and said current law, such as the Equal Access Act, dictates schools cannot deny students’ access to meet on campus. The board also said a school can not disband a club based on the statements of its national affiliate that may create an “unsafe” environment, but only if the students themselves engage in targeted harassment or cause substantial disruption on campus.
“Our role is to support the students’ constitutional rights while upholding the law and maintaining a respectful learning environment,” the board said.
The statement did highlight a point Kanagy mentioned, that while some national organizations provide “club kits” or speakers, the club must remain a student-led group rather than being run by an “outside agent.”
The board also said a pilot club does not mean the school endorses the viewpoints of the organization.
Board member Tim Danlow spoke in support of the club, congratulating the students who founded it.
“They have taken on a tremendous undertaking of civic discussion and respectful dialogue,” Danlow said. “I have 100% faith in our student body that this club will be a positive opportunity for any who choose to participate and a constructive addition to our school community.”
Caesar Gaytan, a Sandburg senior, said the club has made disruptive and hurtful comments toward students and alumni. He said in one instance, club members responded to an alumni’s criticism of one of the club’s posts by threatening to report the commenter to federal immigration enforcement officers.
He said that as a Latino and the president of the Latino Club, the program makes him feel unsafe, especially with the current climate of immigration politics in the Chicago area. He said even though he is graduating this year, he fears the club might increase hatred and division.
“I do not want future freshman and future people coming to Sandburg to feel like they do not belong and that they are not welcome,” Gaytan said.
Gaytan said it took several years to found the Latino Club, and that he is confused how Club America was established at his high school so quickly.
The board statement said a club is designated as a pilot when it is undergoing a probationary period to assess interest and sustainability. To become a pilot, the club needs to meet the requirements set for all student organizations, the board said.
Jennifer Waterman, director of communications, said it is a multiyear process for a pilot program to become an official school-sponsored club, contingent upon sustained student interest and resources.
Gaytan, Kanagy and another student who spoke Thursday, Noah Calhoun, said they met with school administrators regarding their questions and concerns.
But Gayton said a group of students that rallied outside administrative offices a couple weeks ago were given forms to fill out so they could individually talk with guidance counselors.
Gayton said Club America is scheduled to meet in January, and he has already heard a lot of students planning to attend that meeting in opposition, even showing up in their culture’s traditional clothes to represent diversity.
awright@chicagotribune.com
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