Tammy Johnson was surprised and perturbed when her 9-year-old daughter came home from Starr Elementary with a flyer from Christian group that Johnson found in her daughter’s school folder.

The flyer promoted meetings of the Good News Club, “an exciting, fun-filled weekly club for kids in which the Bible is clearly taught with songs, stories, games.”

The Good News Club is sponsored by Child Evangelism Fellowship, which according to its website is “a Bible-centered organization composed of born-again believers whose purpose is to evangelize boys and girls with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and to establish (disciple) them in the Word of God and in a local church for Christian living.”

Johnson said she understands that after-school clubs, including those that are religious, have the right to use school property for meetings. But she questions why the northwest Fresno school assists with the club’s proselytizing efforts by putting its flyer into the folders of students in grades one through six.

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The folders typically contain things like homework assignments, school newsletters and announcements, and other school-related materials, she said.

If schools send out flyers for Christian groups, what’s to stop them from also distributing flyers for groups that some parents might find offensive, she asked in a Twitter post.

… my transgender/drag queen group also reach out to teach CHILDREN about inclusivity & acceptance? Did you not learn anything from Clovis Unified debacle last year?

— Tammy J. (@iAmTammyJ) September 16, 2024

Should Flyer for Religious Club Be Distributed to Students?

Johnson said she’s concerned that her daughter’s schoolmates might try to engage her in conversations about religion that she has not yet prepared her young daughter for.

“This is one of my biggest pet peeves. I mean, we’re an atheist family. I’m not against religion, but it has no value for us as a family,” she said. ” … The wording on the flyer is like, ‘We care about your well-being.’ And it’s seems very misleading and propaganda-ish. You know, you don’t have to be a Christian to care about someone’s well-being. It’s just very manipulative to me.”

Johnson said she was also concerned after reading a handbook for Child Evangelism Fellowship, the organization that sponsors the Good News Clubs, that kids are being rewarded with candy for recruiting new members.

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Child Evangelism Fellowship’s Valley chapter director Tammy Beers said she was unaware that a parent had objected to the group’s Good News Club flyer. There has been a club at Starr since 2016, although it was discontinued during the COVID pandemic and was re-established this month, Beers said.

The Child Evangelism Fellowship’s Valley chapter operates in Fresno, Madera, Kings, and Tulare counties and last year had clubs for more than 2,000 students at 82 elementary school sites in 20 districts, including at 25 to 30 schools in Fresno Unified, Beers said. They depend on volunteer organizers to get clubs up and running, she said.

Access to School Is Allowed by Supreme Court

The club’s flyer clearly states that it is not endorsed by the school district, and the flyer is sent to parents to obtain their authorization for their child’s participation, she said.

“We know that there are people in the community that have different values, and they may or may not choose to come to our program. We respect that,” Beers said. “And we also are grateful for the protection by the Supreme Court (in a 2001 decision) to allow us to have this access to the school. So we don’t think that there’s anything objectionable about what we’re doing and what we offer, and we respect someone else’s opinion that it’s not right for them.”

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CEF’s Valley chapters do not reward children with candy for bringing new members to Good News Clubs, Beers said. They can invite their friends, but children may not attend until their parents have filled out the registration form, she said. Candy sometimes is given out, she said, but it’s to reward children for doing things like memorizing a Bible verse, she said.

Fresno Unified spokeswoman AJ Kato said the district allows the distribution “of noncommercial materials that publicize services, special events, public meetings, or other gatherings of interest to students or parents/guardians.”

But materials that contained discrimination, obscenity, illegal acts, or violation of school rules are not allowed to be distributed, she said.