Once again, students are suing the Salt Lake City School District alleging discrimination because the district won't allow them to form a club to discuss gay and lesbian issues.
More than four years ago, the Salt Lake Board voted 4-3 to eliminate student clubs not tied to the school curriculum. What seemed like a simple decision has become terribly complicated. The plaintiffs, two juniors at East High School, contend their proposed clubs would have academic ties to history, sociology, government and biology course work. Understandably, a school official disagreed and rejected the club application. The student plaintiffs believe the official has applied the district standard unfairly because a humanities club, a problem-solving club and a Polynesian Club for East High students all received official approval.
Painful as this issue has become, it ought to be settled definitively in court. And it ought to be settled quickly so as to provide a minimum disruption. It is appropriate that these legal issues be handled in a dispassionate setting, where law and facts can be weighed against the evidence. But if the issue drags on, it could once again drag the community through needless and unproductive protests, marches and publicity stunts.
That said, one wonders where it will all end. The issue has been the stuff of legal challenges since the school board voted in 1996 to sanction only those organizations tied to the school curriculum. Last fall, a federal judge ruled that the district's ban on on non-curriculum clubs was constitutional.
This latest court challenge nibbles at the edges of that particular school policy. Perhaps that is appropriate if it leads to a definitive decision. But the cost of these continued challenges should not escape notice. Nor should the disruptions they cause to the school and its students.
The overriding concern, of the courts as well as the school, should be to provide a quality education for high school students. Only an expedited hearing would keep this sideshow from becoming too much of a distraction.