Colorado school intentionally failed student because of her outspoken atheism: lawsuit

An atheist teenager is suing her former high school and alleging that its teachers intentionally flunked her due to her views on religion -- and ruined her chances of getting into the college of her choice.

The Denver Post reports that Cidney Fisk this week filed a lawsuit against the Delta County Joint School District No. 50 by claiming that her Christian teachers sabotaged her chances of getting into college because she criticized them for allegedly using their classes to spread their religious views.

Specifically, the Denver Post reports that the lawsuit claims that "her opposition to teachers, school board members and administrators, who she claims espoused religious views in school settings and meetings put her at odds with them." As an example, the lawsuit cites a school board member who "once stated her 'Christian' belief at a school board meeting that 'transgender students should be castrated.'"

What's more, the lawsuit alleges that a school counselor told her that she could lose her positions in student government organizations -- and even jeopardize potential college scholarships -- if she continued her outspoken activism.

The lawsuit also claims that school officials barred her from joining the National Honor Society even though her 4.1 grade point average entering her senior year easily qualified her for joining the group. Additionally, school officials gave her bad reviews that hurt her chances of getting into two colleges, the suit alleges.

"Defendants retaliated upon plaintiff Fisk, threatened, punished and censored her, for expressing her opinions on religion, abortion, sex education, and drug education in an attempt to chill, deter and restrict (her) from freely expressing her opinions," the suit claims.