The Fountain Hills Unified School District governing board approved a policy change Aug. 19 to comply with a new state law requiring public schools to give patriotic youth groups equal access to school forums and opportunities to meet with students.
The policy, required under HB 2312, prohibits schools from denying a patriotic youth group access or treating it differently because of the group’s membership or leadership requirements or its oath of allegiance to God and country.
“The group would have to petition, and I think it’s in the first two weeks of the academic year, they’ve got to petition to have time, and we can’t deny that time,” Board President Dr. Richard Rutkowski said. “I don’t have any problem with this, and plus it’s state law, so we kind of don’t really have the option to not approve it.”
