An Illinois school district defended its decision to allow an “After School Satan Club” to take place at Jane Addams Elementary School, according to a local NBC affiliate Thursday.
Moline-Coal Valley School District released a statement after elementary school children were invited to join an after-school program sponsored by the Satanic Temple. The district confirmed that the decision was approved by the district’s Board of Education.
“The Moline-Coal Valley School District and Board of Education have policies and administrative procedures in place which allow for community use of its publicly funded facilities outside the school day,” the district said in a statement obtained by KWQC.
The district stated that it “does not discriminate” and allows all organizations to rent out its facilities for a fee. It compared the “After School Satan Club” to the Good News Club, an after-school evangelism program for kids.
“The district has, in the past, approved these types of groups, one example being the Good News Club, which is an after-school child evangelism fellowship group. Flyers and promotional materials for these types of groups are approved for lobby posting or display only, and not for mass distribution,” the district continued.
A copy of the flyer was available to students and parents in the lobby of elementary schools, though the district claims that it does not widely distribute them.
An elementary school in Illinois gave out these flyers promoting an after school satan club pic.twitter.com/ieF1wSZYds
— Libs of Tik Tok (@libsoftiktok) January 12, 2022
According to the flyer, the club will take place on Jan. 13, Feb. 10, March 10, April 14 and May 12 at Jane Addams Elementary. The flyer states that the program is taught by “volunteer teachers who have passed criminal background checks.” (RELATED: The Top 10 Most Egregious K-12 School Decisions Of 2021)
The program is marketed for first through fifth-grade students and requires a permission slip for parents to sign.
The “After School Satan Club” program began in 2016 in opposition to religious clubs, according to the Washington Post. The Satanic Temple’s founder vowed to specifically target elementary schools and petitioned to start clubs across the nation.
Proponents of the program argue that excluding the program from public schools is a violation of free-speech rights.