Alliance Defending Freedom
Local Alert
📅 Monday, October 26, 2026 to Calendar
📄 View Official Agenda
We reviewed the upcoming agenda for Pennridge SD and identified 3 items with potential legal exposure ahead of the vote.
HIGH VIABILITY (LEVEL 9)
Final Adoption of Student Discipline Policy with Restorative Practices
📅 October 26, 2026
The Board is scheduled for a final vote on Policy 218, which formally incorporates ‘restorative practices’ into the student discipline framework. The policy does not define this term, creating exposure for compelled speech if students are required to participate in circles, mediations, or offer apologies against their will as part of the disciplinary process.
Intake Action

PRE-VOTE ACTION: Item 10.C is a final vote to adopt Policy 218. Immediately send a pre-adoption legal notice to the Board identifying the compelled speech and due process concerns with mandating undefined ‘restorative practices.’ Open a file and preserve the agenda packet and final policy text upon adoption.

⚖️ Legal Hook: First Amendment – Compelled Speech
HIGH VIABILITY (LEVEL 8)
First Reading of Bullying Policy Extending Off-Campus Jurisdiction
📅 October 26, 2026
The Board is considering a first reading of revised Policy 249 on Bullying/Cyberbullying. The draft policy explicitly extends the district’s disciplinary authority to student conduct and speech that occurs ‘outside a school setting,’ creating potential for infringement on students’ First Amendment free speech rights.
Intake Action

PRE-VOTE ACTION: Item 10.B is a first reading of Policy 249. Send a pre-adoption legal notice to the Board before the second reading, identifying the First Amendment concerns with regulating off-campus speech and proposing language that aligns with the nexus requirements from relevant case law. Calendar the next Policy Committee meeting on November 2, 2026.

⚖️ Legal Hook: First Amendment – Student Speech
✅ Precedent to Preserve
Adopted language worth preserving as precedent.
Precedent (LEVEL 6)
District Approves Emergency Shelter Agreement with Church
📅 October 26, 2026
The Board is approving a Memorandum of Understanding with Renew Bible Church to use its facility as an emergency shelter for students and staff. This agreement treats the church as a neutral community partner, providing a useful example of non-discriminatory facility use policy in practice.
How to Preserve It

PRESERVE RECORD: Item 5.j approves an MOU with a local church for emergency sheltering. Capture the adopted text of the MOU as a model for equal treatment of religious organizations in facility-use agreements.

✅ Why It Matters: First Amendment – Equal Treatment
District Leadership
Address 1200 N 5th St, Perkasie, PA 18944
“Contending in the courts of man, in reverence for the courts of God.”
Alliance Defending Freedom is the world’s largest legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, the sanctity of life, parental rights, and God’s design for marriage and family.

Alliance Defending Freedom

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