The White County,
Ga., school district will set up an antibullying
program at White County High School and pay $10,000 to
a group of students who sued for the right to have a
gay-straight alliance, the White County News reported Tuesday.
The payment and
antibullying program, which will also be established at
White County's ninth-grade academy, is part of a
settlement reached between the parties. The settlement
will become official when all parties sign it, the
News reported. The deal also includes the
school district paying more $168,000 in court
costs to the American Civil Liberties Union, which
assisted the students in their legal efforts to
form the alliance.
The lawsuit came
about when students were denied the right to have a
gay-straight alliance at White County High School. Gay
student Kerry Pacer, The Advocate's 2005 Person
of the Year, led the push for the group.
The school's
principal refused to allow the alliance on the grounds
that it was a noncurricular club, which is not allowed on
campus. Pacer, who has since graduated from White
County High, argued in a Gainesville, Fla.,
federal court in June that during her senior year
she heard announcements about other noncurricular clubs on
the school's public address system. ACLU
attorneys backed Pacer's story and presented morning
school bulletins as evidence. (The Advocate)
