Is a Jewish club in a public school a violation of Separation of Church and State?
No. The Equal Access Act (“EAA”), adopted in 1984, requires that public schools treat all student- initiated groups equally. Specifically, if the school permits noncurriculum-related groups (such as the chess club or cooking club) to meet during noninstructional time, it must also permit other groups regardless of the religious, political or other orientation. Further, The Supreme Court reinforced this in its 2001 decision in “Good News v. Milford.” Consider a French club at your school. There French culture, history,holidays,cuisine, language and current events are discussed. Substitute Jewish culture for French and we have the JSU Club at your school.
How is a JSU club started?
The key to starting a successful JSU club is identifying the teen leader. By law, public school clubs must be student-initiated and student-run. Often, a student will contact JSU and ask how to start a JSU at his/her school. The role of the JSU Advisor is to encourage and support the teen in navigating the school’s policies for forming an official school club. The student must do the following:
- Meet with the appropriate school official (usually the Assistant Principal for activities) to clarify what is required to initiate a school club.
- Identify a faculty member to serve as the club sponsor(a requirement of most schools–each club must have a faculty sponsor). The faculty member provides the meeting room, intervenes when it is necessary to maintain order, and provides the school administration with an adult contact. The Sponsor does not facilitate the club.
- File all necessary paperwork with the school administration. This may include a constitution (a template is available from the JSU office) and a petition from other like-minded students.
- Choose a meeting day and time, and set and publicize a first meeting date.
When does a JSU club meet?
A JSU club can meet during any noninstructional time, depending on the school’s general quidelines. Lunch time is the preferred meeting time since the teens are on campus but not in class. At some schools, when lunch isn’t feasible due to bell schedules or conflicting activities, clubs meet before or after school.
What takes place during club meetings?
Each club functions a little differently from the next, but the content of the weekly meeting may include, among other things:
- A club business meeting
- Speakers from other organizations
- Visitors from Israel
- A discussion or debate on current events
- Holiday celebrations
- Falafel-eating contests
- A game of “Jewpardy”
- In addition, and most important to some teens, is the food! Teens may come for the food, but they stay for the discussions and sense of community.
Why is it necessary to have full time staff for JSU?
The JSU Advisor devotes more time to each JSU club than just the commute to and from each school and the 50 minutes of club time weekly.
The Advisor
- Spends time working with the President to develop programs and program resources.
- Meets on a regular basis with all of the officers of each club to work on developing leadership skills and help them learn to work together as a leadership team.
- Meets with the faculty sponsor and/or the school administration to keep the lines of communication open.
- Provide after school engagement activities such as Latte ‘n’ Learning discussion groups and other programs.
- The most important thing that the Advisor does is maintain contact via email and phone with all of the JSU teens who come to meetings. A weekly call to a teen to say “Shabbat Shalom” goes a long way in cementing that relationship and reinforcing the Advisor as a positive Jewish role model.