Overview
- Alliance Defending Freedom filed a federal lawsuit in the Southern District of Georgia seeking to reinstate Sweet Onion Christian Learning Center’s released-time program and to purge records tied to its termination.
- Vidalia City Schools ended the arrangement when Superintendent Sandy Reid emailed Rev. Gady Youmans in February 2026 to say the center could no longer operate for Vidalia High students.
- The complaint says the shutdown followed Youmans’ Facebook posts criticizing a proposed school property tax increase and notes board records that flagged his public criticism and a concern about a “particular interpretation” of the Bible.
- Sweet Onion’s off-campus, privately funded classes had run since 2015 under a 2014 board approval, with offerings such as Old and New Testament surveys and optional dual-enrollment credit through Brewton-Parker Christian University.
- ADF alleges First and 14th Amendment and Georgia RFRA violations and seeks only nominal damages, while the district has not responded publicly and the case now tests how schools treat religious released-time providers under long-standing Supreme Court guidance.