Who is leading the bible club?

Two schools in Ohio have recently suspended Bible Study meetings that appear to be sponsored and attended by local pastors and other church volunteers. An atheist group, Freedom From Religion, sent letters to several schools regarding their supposedly student run bible study groups. Bible studies took place before school or during lunch breaks. A local church briefly listed these bible clubs as one of the places their pastor regularly spoke. Freedom From Religion cited the active involvement of a church official, and also reports of other volunteers from the church joining in on the meetings as defying the separation between church and state. They noted that once church officials get involved as leaders of these groups, it no longer can be claimed that these groups are student led and officiated. A Youth Pastor notes that "pastors and school administrators 'have always had an extraordinarily great working relationship, which has helped these groups to thrive and to be encouraged in a special way during the school day.'" While Freedom from Religion did not appear to be concerned about occasional visits from outside adults like pastors, they were concerned that the groups were being is regularly attended and led by someone other than the students and that this might constitute a breach of the establishment clause. The groups have been suspended, with the district noting that it appears as though the churches have been leading these groups. Actual student initiated groups, they claim, can be reestablished at a later date.

Do Bible club meetings on school grounds attended and potentially led by religious officials and endorsed by the schools constitute an establishment of religion?

This case can pretty easily be compared to our discussions last week in class. Since it deals with clubs in high schools and middle schools, it maps pretty easily onto Board of Education of Westside Community Schools v. Mergens. In this case, the supreme court ruled that having a Christian club outside of school hours was constitutional as long as it was not promoted any more than any other school club and additionally, as long as the faculty adviser played strictly custodial role and did not engage in the religious discourse.  The court ruled that on the basis on free speech, a student led Christian group should not be suppressed simply because of the content of their meetings as student groups are encouraged to foster leadership and development in students. In the majority opinion, Justice O'Connor notes that a limited open forum created is Westside schools "allow student groups to meet on school premises during non instructional time". Additionally, it is made very clear that these student led groups are a product of student's free speech, and explicitly not an endorsement or establishment of free speech by the school.

I think it was the right decision for the schools to suspend the bible clubs. There are several similarities between these bible clubs and the ones at Westside Community Schools. For one, they are at least in theory student initiated. Additionally, they take place during non instructional time like before school and lunch. However, these groups differ in a crucial way from Westside v. Mergens. The consistent presence and/or leading of the groups from church volunteers and pastors really changes the situation. The Pastor who claimed that the Church and the administration have a "strong working relationship" to "encourage" participation is absolutely a violation of the establishment cause. If the school is promoting participation in these groups, they are favoring one religion and supporting it over others in direct violation of the establishment clause. The article also cites the same youth pastor again who claims that he doesn't know any school administrator not in favor of Bible clubs. Putting all of this together with church officials entering the school and allegedly leading meetings makes it hard to believe that these groups are student led or initiated. If a groups of student arranged meetings and occasionally had a visit from a local pastor as a special guest, that would be on a much different level than what is reportedly happening in these schools. It appears as though the school is actively supporting and encouraging the club, a practice that is strictly admonished in Westside v. Mergens. For these reasons, I believe the clubs should not be allowed. The endorsement from the schools might pressure students who would not otherwise attend the Bible clubs to attend.

The article I read did not have any information from students- I would be interested to know whether the students in these clubs are playing an active role in their curriculum and planning. This would give me a little more insight into how involved the church officials actually are.
What do you think? Should the Bible clubs be allowed to have pastors be guests? Should schools allow clubs to be reinstated and if so, what role should they take in monitoring who attends?