A former student from Delta High School in Colorado has sued the school district for sabotaging her college applications because of her secular views and opposition to religiously based instruction in the public school.
On Sept. 25, two Denver attorneys filed a civil lawsuit on Cidney Fisk’s behalf in U.S. District Court in Denver against the district and school officials. She is seeking compensatory and punitive damages for economic losses, emotional distress and humiliation.
(Cidney Fisk was awarded FFRF’s Richard and Beverly Hermsen Student Activist Award of $5,000 for her outspoken questioning of authority at the school. Her story ran in the May issue of Freethought Today.)
Fisk says that teachers in the Delta County Joint School District gave the straight-A student a failing grade and denied her the ability to get scholarships because of her outspokenness.
At a meeting, a counselor warned her that she could be removed from her student government position and lose college scholarship opportunities, the lawsuit also states.
Fisk was quoted in an April 1, 2016, Daily Sentinel article about her opposition to a middle school program called “Donuts with Dan,” in which a teacher gave students doughnuts and Gideon bibles.
After the article was published, the teacher dropped Fisk’s grade in his class to an F. She then spoke with the teacher and the principal. Both expressly said that her grade was because of her comments in the paper. They said that if she wanted to improve her grades, she should “shut up.”
