Student sues school for persecution

[Czernobog]

The folks at Delta County High School, on Colorado's Western Slope, are learning what can happen when you mess with Cidney Fisk. The teen is suing the public school and a slew of other related individuals and entities in United States District Court, alleging that her identity as an atheist and criticism of activities such as allowing a Christian group to hand out Bibles on one district campus resulted in a wide range of discriminatory acts, including the arbitrary lowering of her marks in a student government class....

Fisk's accomplishments at Delta High were considerable. During her senior year, she earned a 4.1 grade-point average and scored an impressive 26 on her ACT. She also served as student body treasurer and captain of her high school's frequently honored speech and debate team; worked on the school magazine, the Delta Paw Print; and logged more than 400 hours of community service on behalf of organizations such as UNICEF and the Junior Kiwanis Key Club....

...over time, she made her atheism known and began to criticize some of the overtly Christian proselytizing allowed by numerous Delta High staffers, not to mention members of the county school board, including Kathy Svenson, who was quoted at an October 2013 meeting as expressing her belief that "transgender students should be castrated."

Other examples: The district allowed Gideons International to pass out free Bibles to middle school students in 2015 and 2016, let instructor Dan Dunham hold extracurricular Bible study classes under the moniker "Donuts With Dunham," and extended a speaking invitation to Chad Williams, author of a book called SEAL of God.​

When Fisk dared to speak out, and oppose such indoctrination of fellow students by Christian activists, the school lashed out:

After Fisk criticized these activities in an April 2016 article published in the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, she received numerous death threats via message boards on Facebook from other students — but the lawsuit alleges that the school district "did nothing at all in response." On top of that, the suit states that her student government grade was lowered from a 98 to a 70, and her marks were changed to F's in other classes in which she'd previously racked up near-perfect scores.

In explaining the reason behind these changes, school personnel are quoted in the suit as citing Fisk's "questioning of authority" and telling her that she'd been highly disrespectful by saying how she felt about religious matters. They told her that when it came to her beliefs, she should "shut up" and "fake it until she makes it" rather than "stirring the pot."​

Here's What Can Happen When You Mess With a Super-Smart Teen Atheist

See, this is what religious persecution looks like. When Christian students start having their grades affected, and their futures put in jeopardy because they dare to voice their opinions, and support the Constitution, then Christians will have a valid argument.

 

[Compost]

Let's keep Cidney Fisk in our prayers.

 

[TNHarley]

It's pathetic when people sue a school for not controlling students personal life.
While i think losing grades for it is just as pathetic, It's hard to believe her.
Punishing innocent people is dishonest and cowardly.
Good luck proving they changed your grades for being an atheist

 

[Dekster]

My guess is her grades were lowered in government because she was an incessant whinner about religion. We had a black girl in history class who always tried to turn everything into a race thing. Teacher finally stopped calling on her even if hers was only hand up when he asked a question which was, of course, racist in her mind.

 

[JakeStarkey]

Tough, Dekster. Cidney had every right to do as she did, and now the court is going to smack the school district hard, which is going to have to pay her full ride at UC Boulder.

 

[Czernobog]

It's pathetic when people sue a school for not controlling students personal life.
While i think losing grades for it is just as pathetic, It's hard to believe her.
Punishing innocent people is dishonest and cowardly.
Good luck proving they changed your grades for being an atheist

Okay. Let's be clear. She isn't suing the school district for prosleytising, or bringing religious indoctrinators into her school. She wrote articles, and protested those actions.

She is suing because, as punishment for her daring to speak out against these infractions of Constitutional protections, the school punished her, and tried to dimish her post-high school opportunities.

 

[BreezeWood]

.
they deserve to be sued if they lowered her grades, including the school superintendents that have not taken adequate steps against whoever allowed the grades to be changed.

 

[Czernobog]

My guess is her grades were lowered in government because she was an incessant whinner about religion. We had a black girl in history class who always tried to turn everything into a race thing. Teacher finally stopped calling on her even if hers was only hand up when he asked a question which was, of course, racist in her mind.

So, you're basically saying the same thing the school did - sit down, shut up, and accept that we are going to bring religion into a government institution.

Here's a news flash for all of the theists, and religion apologists. We atheists, are done sitting down, and shutting up. We are outpacing every religion in the US as a demographic, and we're done just sitting back and letting the dominionists run things however they would like.

 

[Dekster]

Tough, Dekster. Cidney had every right to do as she did, and now the court is going to smack the school district hard, which is going to have to pay her full ride at UC Boulder.

Tough that the school district allowing a group to hand out Bibles at another school two years ago where she was not in attendance won't buy her a bus ticket to UC anywhere

 

[Dekster]

My guess is her grades were lowered in government because she was an incessant whinner about religion. We had a black girl in history class who always tried to turn everything into a race thing. Teacher finally stopped calling on her even if hers was only hand up when he asked a question which was, of course, racist in her mind.

So, you're basically saying the same thing the school did - sit down, shut up, and accept that we are going to bring religion into a government institution.

Here's a news flash for all of the theists, and religion apologists. We atheists, are done sitting down, and shutting up. We are outpacing every religion in the US as a demographic, and we're done just sitting back and letting the dominionists run things however they would like.

No I am saying she will not be able to maintain her allegation that she was persecuted for being an atheist.

 

[Billy_Kinetta]

The folks at Delta County High School, on Colorado's Western Slope, are learning what can happen when you mess with Cidney Fisk. The teen is suing the public school and a slew of other related individuals and entities in United States District Court, alleging that her identity as an atheist and criticism of activities such as allowing a Christian group to hand out Bibles on one district campus resulted in a wide range of discriminatory acts, including the arbitrary lowering of her marks in a student government class....

Fisk's accomplishments at Delta High were considerable. During her senior year, she earned a 4.1 grade-point average and scored an impressive 26 on her ACT. She also served as student body treasurer and captain of her high school's frequently honored speech and debate team; worked on the school magazine, the Delta Paw Print; and logged more than 400 hours of community service on behalf of organizations such as UNICEF and the Junior Kiwanis Key Club....

...over time, she made her atheism known and began to criticize some of the overtly Christian proselytizing allowed by numerous Delta High staffers, not to mention members of the county school board, including Kathy Svenson, who was quoted at an October 2013 meeting as expressing her belief that "transgender students should be castrated."

Other examples: The district allowed Gideons International to pass out free Bibles to middle school students in 2015 and 2016, let instructor Dan Dunham hold extracurricular Bible study classes under the moniker "Donuts With Dunham," and extended a speaking invitation to Chad Williams, author of a book called SEAL of God.​

When Fisk dared to speak out, and oppose such indoctrination of fellow students by Christian activists, the school lashed out:

After Fisk criticized these activities in an April 2016 article published in the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, she received numerous death threats via message boards on Facebook from other students — but the lawsuit alleges that the school district "did nothing at all in response." On top of that, the suit states that her student government grade was lowered from a 98 to a 70, and her marks were changed to F's in other classes in which she'd previously racked up near-perfect scores.

In explaining the reason behind these changes, school personnel are quoted in the suit as citing Fisk's "questioning of authority" and telling her that she'd been highly disrespectful by saying how she felt about religious matters. They told her that when it came to her beliefs, she should "shut up" and "fake it until she makes it" rather than "stirring the pot."​

Here's What Can Happen When You Mess With a Super-Smart Teen Atheist

See, this is what religious persecution looks like. When Christian students start having their grades affected, and their futures put in jeopardy because they dare to voice their opinions, and support the Constitution, then Christians will have a valid argument.

There are two sides to every story.

 

[godsandmen]

This is definitely a violation of the separation of church and state, even without her grades being lowered. She should contact the FFRF and Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Unfortunately, this type of violation is so common that those organizations are swamped, and simply do not have the resources to address every instance. Still, often just a letter from one of these organizations will often do the trick.

 

[JakeStarkey]

Dekster, your deflection is noted, laughed at, and discarded.

We are talking about what the school officials did to Cidney.

 

[Czernobog]

Tough, Dekster. Cidney had every right to do as she did, and now the court is going to smack the school district hard, which is going to have to pay her full ride at UC Boulder.

Tough that the school district allowing a group to hand out Bibles at another school two years ago where she was not in attendance won't buy her a bus ticket to UC anywhere

What the fuck are you babbling about? She was in attendance. She would have been a sophomore. Further, the school district allowing Christians to pass out their Bibles on campus was a clear violation of the First Amendment. Kudos to her for calling it out. And shame on the school district for not doing anything when she got death threats from her fellow students for calling it out.

 

[Czernobog]

My guess is her grades were lowered in government because she was an incessant whinner about religion. We had a black girl in history class who always tried to turn everything into a race thing. Teacher finally stopped calling on her even if hers was only hand up when he asked a question which was, of course, racist in her mind.

So, you're basically saying the same thing the school did - sit down, shut up, and accept that we are going to bring religion into a government institution.

Here's a news flash for all of the theists, and religion apologists. We atheists, are done sitting down, and shutting up. We are outpacing every religion in the US as a demographic, and we're done just sitting back and letting the dominionists run things however they would like.

No I am saying she will not be able to maintain her allegation that she was persecuted for being an atheist.

She is not suggesting that she was persecuted for "being an atheist". She maintains that she was persecuted for speaking out against the school district's violation of the Constitution.

And even were that not the case, do you not think that an atheist has any more right to their beliefs - or lack thereof - than theists?

 

[Dekster]

Tough, Dekster. Cidney had every right to do as she did, and now the court is going to smack the school district hard, which is going to have to pay her full ride at UC Boulder.

Tough that the school district allowing a group to hand out Bibles at another school two years ago where she was not in attendance won't buy her a bus ticket to UC anywhere

What the fuck are you babbling about? She was in attendance. She would have been a sophomore. Further, the school district allowing Christians to pass out their Bibles on campus was a clear violation of the First Amendment. Kudos to her for calling it out. And shame on the school district for not doing anything when she got death threats from her fellow students for calling it out.

She was not in attendance at a middle school two years ago if she graduated last year. The school district allowed her to pass out her anti-religion pamphlets. She has a history of hospitalization for mental issues. A lot of what is being alleged in the OP article as being linked to her religion had nothing to do with the Bible issue but her perpetual drama like trying to stage a one-person pro-abortion protest in her classes. She is now in college claiming she could have gotten into better schools and gotten scholarships to those better schools but for her persecution when it sounds like she was nutty as a fruit cake.

 

[JakeStarkey]

Dekster, the school district has every right to defend itself, yes, for behaving so poorly.

 

[bodecea]

Tough, Dekster. Cidney had every right to do as she did, and now the court is going to smack the school district hard, which is going to have to pay her full ride at UC Boulder.

Tough that the school district allowing a group to hand out Bibles at another school two years ago where she was not in attendance won't buy her a bus ticket to UC anywhere

What the fuck are you babbling about? She was in attendance. She would have been a sophomore. Further, the school district allowing Christians to pass out their Bibles on campus was a clear violation of the First Amendment. Kudos to her for calling it out. And shame on the school district for not doing anything when she got death threats from her fellow students for calling it out.

She was not in attendance at a middle school two years ago if she graduated last year. The school district allowed her to pass out her anti-religion pamphlets. She has a history of hospitalization for mental issues. A lot of what is being alleged in the OP article as being linked to her religion had nothing to do with the Bible issue but her perpetual drama like trying to stage a one-person pro-abortion protest in her classes. She is now in college claiming she could have gotten into better schools and gotten scholarships to those better schools but for her persecution when it sounds like she was nutty as a fruit cake.

You are making stuff up about her now.

 

[Dekster]

Tough, Dekster. Cidney had every right to do as she did, and now the court is going to smack the school district hard, which is going to have to pay her full ride at UC Boulder.

Tough that the school district allowing a group to hand out Bibles at another school two years ago where she was not in attendance won't buy her a bus ticket to UC anywhere

What the fuck are you babbling about? She was in attendance. She would have been a sophomore. Further, the school district allowing Christians to pass out their Bibles on campus was a clear violation of the First Amendment. Kudos to her for calling it out. And shame on the school district for not doing anything when she got death threats from her fellow students for calling it out.

She was not in attendance at a middle school two years ago if she graduated last year. The school district allowed her to pass out her anti-religion pamphlets. She has a history of hospitalization for mental issues. A lot of what is being alleged in the OP article as being linked to her religion had nothing to do with the Bible issue but her perpetual drama like trying to stage a one-person pro-abortion protest in her classes. She is now in college claiming she could have gotten into better schools and gotten scholarships to those better schools but for her persecution when it sounds like she was nutty as a fruit cake.

You are making stuff up about her now.

Have not made up a thing. The OP article is not the only one on the internet about this case. More importantly, you should read what her lawsuit says before you pretend to know what she herself has alleged. Almost every article you find on the atheist vs. religion feud should be deep dived if you really want to know the truth and not just have your panties ruffled.

 

[Dekster]

Dekster, the school district has every right to defend itself, yes, for behaving so poorly.

Yes it does, but as I indicated to the other ax grinder, she reveals quite a bit about herself in her lawsuit and the article in the OP paints a very distorted picture of that lawsuit.