NORTHAMPTON COUNTY, Pa. — The 'After School Satan Club' was on the minds of many at the Saucon Valley School Board meeting Tuesday night.
"This last debacle was exemplary. Previously, we had to endure embarrassing negative media coverage on a local and state basis," said Craig Hay, Saucon Township.
Last week, the club was approved to use the Saucon Valley Middle School as a meeting place.
Shortly after the announcement, threats were called into the school.
This and other policy violations, according to district administrators, led to them suspending the club from using school facilities.
Several parents and community members spoke out during the public comment section of the board meeting, saying to get rid of school religious groups altogether.
"I'd like to know on what grounds that you rescind it truly because it's a violation of our constitutional right to have one religious group and not allow them all," said Shay McGee, Lower Saucon Township.
"We have a lot of questions and concerns with school, what our kids are coming in contact with if people have hidden agendas; I say let's just nix it all. I think we have enough on your plate to just focus on education," said Carly Komoroski, Lower Saucon Township.
"Any kind of religion should just be out of public schools; that would just be helpful for all parties. If you believe in God, you go to a church. If you believe in anything else, just go somewhere else. There are other places you can go, pray, worship, and do whatever you guys do, but all religion should just be out of public schools," said Zach Craft, Lower Saucon Township.
Several members of the Satanic Temple, the organization that sponsors the 'After School Satan Club,' were at the meeting.
In response to the school board's announcement to remove, they told Newswatch 16 they "are disappointed and are considering other options."
Police also arrested a man from North Carolina for making a threat against Saucon Valley, forcing the district to close all its schools the day after approving the 'After School Satan Club.'
Paperwork says the 20-year-old left the threat in a voicemail after hearing about the club online.
He will be extradited to Pennsylvania to face charges.
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