McKeesport school officials say they did not block Black Student Union

McKeesport Area School District officials on Tuesday refuted claims in a civil rights lawsuit that they are trying to thwart formation of a Black Student Union.

Superintendent Mark Holtzman, who is named as a defendant in the lawsuit along with the district, told reporters that the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania is trying to manipulate the district into illegally allowing the formation of the student organization. He said the efforts to form the union came from people outside of the school and was not initiated by students.

“This was never about a Black Student Union,” Holtzman said. “This was about outside control of a student group.”

Filed April 10 by the ACLU of Pennsylvania on behalf of 11 students, the federal civil rights lawsuit alleges that the district violated students’ First Amendment rights by repeatedly denying their efforts to form a Black Student Union club.

The club would be open to all students and would take on issues involving race and the treatment of students of color in the district, according to previous statements from the ACLU of Pennsylvania.

Holtzman said that a person from outside the school called for the Black Student Union, and that it was not initiated solely by students. Therefore, the district denied the formation of the group, he said.

Holtzman declined to name the person that he and the district maintain has been pushing the formation of the group for personal political gain.

A statement released by the district Monday names the anti-violence group Take Action Mon Valley and Penn State Greater Allegheny as two non-school entities that “may not direct, conduct, control or regularly attend in-school activities of this, or any, student groups.”

“The frustrating part is the students clearly did not understand that they’re in the middle of this,” Assistant Superintendent Tia Wanzo said. “And also, it’s frustrating that they feel that we are telling them they cannot do that, you’re not allowed to have this club, because that was never ever stated by any of us.”

Holtzman also refuted a claim in the lawsuit alleging that the district interfered in forming the Black Student Union by putting together an alternative student group.

“The ACLU did not claim the facts appropriately,” Holtzman said. “That group was something that we agreed upon, the ACLU, myself and my district counsel to create a group to give some feedback on what the students want.”

The ACLU of Pennsylvania on Monday released a statement on behalf of the students that said a hearing in the case was postponed because “students and the district are negotiating a potential resolution.”

Holtzman said that the district has not been dealing with any students as the lawsuit moves forward; rather, they have been working only with lawyers representing the students.

He said he hopes to move forward with negotiations with the ACLU of Pennsylvania over a settlement this week.

“The ACLU expects to be able to prove the allegations in the complaint if this case goes to trial,” Witold Walczak, legal director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania, said in a statement Tuesday. “That said, our focus right now in discussions with MASD lawyers is to get the District to approve the MBSU and agree to treat them the same as other non-curricular student clubs.”