Ocala, Fla. – The fight for a Gay-Straight Alliance at Carver Middle school officially had its first day in court.
March 2 was the first part of a two-day hearing at the U.S. District Court of the Middle District of Florida in Ocala, Fla.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida filed a lawsuit on behalf of Hannah Faughnan, a 14-year-old eighth grader at Carver Middle, and the students of the GSA at Carver Middle against the Lake County School Board in December 2013. They are suing on counts of equal access and First Amendment Rights. Daniel Tilley, of ACLU Florida, is the lead counsel for the case.
“If we win, I really hope to have the club so that we can focus on what we want to accomplish with the student body because the GSA may change every year, depending on who’s in it and who’s involved,” Faughnan said.
Both parties started off with opening arguments. Lake County School Board attorney Stephanie McCulloch argued that the club did not meet the qualifications set by the new school board policy 4.502 that defines what can or cannot be a middle school club or organization.
McCulloch said the school and district’s school board had parents filing complaints about what was discussed at the GSA meetings.
Tilley argued that the club was created to prevent bullying and create ways to make sure the school was a safe place for all. When Faughnan was questioned about the nature of the club, she said sex and dating were never mentioned at meetings, and there were always a handful of teachers and administrators present at all meetings.
U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges is proceeding over the trial. He questioned if the case could even hold up in federal court, because Faughnan didn’t resubmit and application for the club for the current academic year. Hodges said the case will proceed but this will be taken into consideration and addressed later.
This is the second lawsuit over a GSA at Carver Middle School. In November of 2012, then-14-year-old Bayli Silberstein requested permission to start a GSA at Carver Middle School. After months of legal wrangling and school board meeting debates, a judge granted Silberstein permission to form the club for the remainder of her eighth grade year, which ended in the summer of 2013. That settlement has expired, Bayli has moved onto high school and now, the GSA no longer meets at Carver Middle School. The club was not approved when Faughnan reapplied, and she wasn’t given reason as how to improve upon her application.
Silberstein, now 16 and in high school, was a witness for the ACLU’s case March 2. She talked about what happened when she was at Carver and what happened once Hannah took over.
“It’s crazy. It shouldn’t have gone this far, it shouldn’t have been this hard. But I am proud of Hannah for taking over for it, and I’m extremely thankful that she cares about it as much as I did,” Silberstein said. “It’s equal rights. Everyone deserves to be safe in their own school, and they’re children. We’re all children and we deserve to get an education without fearing of other students. It wasn’t fair, and we need to make it right.”
Silberstein, Faughnan and Lake County Schools’ Superintendent Dr. Susan Moxley were some of the witnesses called to the stand by ACLU Florida attorneys on March 2.
“I was nervous, but I’m well-prepared. I know what I’m here to speak about and I’m ready to face whatever comes to me,” Faughnan said.
Moxley was questioned by Tilley on the changed school board policy 4.502, which determines was can or cannot be a school club. He also addressed how the school board only seems to address bullying by the use of disciplinary action and education. The ACLU legal cited the application and club’s charter into evidence and questioned how it didn’t fit the criteria to be a club at Carver Middle.
“I could not infer what [the applying students] meant by critical thinking in their application based on what they included,” Moxely said in reference to rules that require school clubs to foster critical thinking.
The court case will continue through March 3, when Lake County School Board’s legal team calls their witnesses to the stand and provides any further evidence for the trial.
“[Bullying] is a growing issue, and the GSA is there to support everybody,” Faughnan said. “No matter what you—your race, ethnicity and anything like that. It’s not just whether you’re gay or straight. So by anyone being able to come in there and talk to anybody else like equals, just as it should be, we can move forward as one unit, not as a group of many different people with many different opinions.”
