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.
"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.
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.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."
"Despite denying plaintiffs' their respective religious exemptions, defendants have granted the religious exemption requests of other parents in the School District," the lawsuit says.
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