Salt Lake Tribune - Compromise Allows Teachers to Lead Christian Club in Utah

February 26, 2006
By: Lisa J. Church, Special to The Tribune

(MOAB)  - Two teachers will be allowed to lead a Christian-based, after-school club on school grounds under a compromise reached in the Grand County School District.

Under the resolution, signed by school board President Kaaron Jorgen, the teachers agreed to forgo any district funding for the club, and to wait until their contract day ends before participating in club meetings.

Konnie Pacheco and Paula Radcliffe, teachers at Helen M. Knight Intermediate School in Moab, had asked to lead a Good News Club. District officials approved the club, but denied the teachers' request because the pair's contract day does not end until 15 minutes after the meeting is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m.

Under the agreement, Paula Radcliffe's husband, Bernie Radcliffe, will handle the club meeting for that 15 minutes.

The teachers also agreed to announce at each club meeting that they are leading the faith-based club as private citizens - not as school district employees, Jorgen said. And they won't be paid for the club work, as is usual for teachers who run nonsectarian after-school clubs.

"This resolves the board's concerns about public money being used to teach religion, and it reduces the chance for confusion for the kids about when the teachers are teaching class and when they are acting as private citizens," Jorgen said.

Dick Pacheco, pastor of the River of Life Christian Fellowship in Moab, husband of Konnie Pacheco and spokesman for the teachers said, "I really do appreciate the hard work by the school board, the principal, and everybody that was involved."

Good News Clubs were developed by the Missouri-based Child Evangelism Fellowship as an outreach program for children age 5 to 12.

Geoffrey Surtees, an attorney who works for the Washington, D.C.-based American Center for Law and Justice - a nonprofit legal group founded in 1990 by evangelist Pat Robertson - represented the teachers. He described the resolution as "amicable."