School Tells Honors Student That Volunteering At Church Is Not Community Service Credit

Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) is coming to the aid of an Alexandria, Virginia, honors student who was denied community service credit because her volunteering was faith-based. (UPDATE: The Virginia school district has reinstated the student, but the ADF lawsuit will continue.)

ADF litigation counsel Matt Sharp says his client, a 17-year-old who is currently remaining anonymous, is claiming discrimination because she was denied any credit toward her 12 required community service hours because her work was done at her church. The student had completed 46 hours of service at "Kid Quest," a Sunday school program. Other students at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology were credited for doing similar work in secular venues.

"[The district] failed to give her a single hour of credit for all of her hours and told her, You're in violation of our policy. You haven't performed enough hours. You need to remedy this immediately by performing those 12 hours, plus an additional four hours that we're going to penalize you with. Otherwise, you're going to be removed from National Honor Society," Sharp reports.

While that action is blatantly unconstitutional, the attorney points out that being kicked out of the honor society would have grave consequences.

"National Honor Society is something that a lot of universities look at when considering admission. There's lots of scholarship opportunities that come through being a member of that -- and leadership opportunities [as well]," Sharp notes. "And because of the school's discrimination against our client, she risks losing all of that."

The ADF attorney adds that the National Honor Society has no issue with the hours. The problem is the Fairfax County School Board's Faith-based Service Policy, which has a solid stance on credit hours. It reads that faith-based volunteer hours "must have a secular purpose … and may not include preparation or participation in the performance of religious services."

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