SAN ANTONIO — A student-led group claims their speech is being censored at Sonia Sotomayor High School.
Diego Salinas, a senior at the school, started a chapter of the “Students for Life of America.” The pro-life nonprofit has clubs in school districts and colleges across the country.
Students for Life held one meeting on campus before being shut down, Salinas says.
“I have done everything correctly; I have gone through the process,” he said. “Even when I knew there were things [the school] was doing wrong, I still complied.”
With nearly 20 people interested in joining, Salinas says he attempted to establish the group early this spring. In August, the Assistant Superintendent for Secondary Administration sent Salinas an email saying staff would “reach out to detail the club being established in the 24-25 school year.”
“I started up an Instagram and that Instagram had the ‘Sotomayor Students for Life’ handle,’” said Salinas. “Once that Instagram [account] kind of got popular, kids started finding out about the club.”
The Northside Independent School District (NISD) does not consider the group a club. A district spokesperson shared their policies for ‘Limited Open Forums,’ which are noncurricular student-led groups. The document states noncurriculum-related student groups shall “in no way imply to students or the public that they are school-sponsored.” This includes the use of the school’s name and logo in letterheads, posters, flyers and social media pages.
“Once the administration was made aware of the account, they said that because it had Sotomayor in the name, I couldn’t change the name, but I had to delete it,” said Salinas. “The same meeting we were having when I was called into the office, I deleted the account in front of [the assistant principal]. That’s how compliant I was. I said, ‘It’s okay, I just want to be able to have my group and move forward.’”
Salinas believes Students for Life was singled out since several student groups use the school’s name and logo on social media, including a bible study, tabletop, mariachi and Asian & Pacific American group, to name a few.
Students for Life held its first and only meeting on Oct. 3, Salinas says.
“After the Instagram account was deleted, they called me into the office and said because the club was preventing education from moving forward and because it was creating an uproar in the school, they were temporarily suspending my club,” he said. “We found out later that the principal was receiving emails from parents.”
While NISD’s policy does not address so-called disruptions to learning, student-led groups are approved at the school’s discretion. According to district guidelines, “the Superintendent’s designee shall approve or reject the request, subject to the availability of suitable meeting space and without regard to the religious, political, philosophical or other content of the speech likely to be associated with the group’s meeting.”
“I think it was very, very distinct discrimination against our club,” said Salinas. “I just want to have a space for my group to be able to go. It has only been positive, only been educational, and has in no way [perpetuated] hate to other students or anyone at the school.”
This week, legal counsel representing Students for Life of America sent Sotomayor High School a letter demanding the group be re-instated. Because of this, a spokesperson for NISD said he could only provide a limited response.
"Sotomayor HS has fully complied with the district’s policy regarding student expression and use of school facilities for non-school business in providing a limited open forum," NISD said in a statement. "The matter is currently under consideration by school administration.”