Sarah Hollen, a sophomore at Penn Cambria High School, says the principal violated her right of free speech by stopping her from passing out leaflets opposing abortion.

School administrators counter that Sarah broke district rules Oct. 25 by distributing the fliers during a chemistry class.

Both sides claimed victory yesterday after Sarah dropped her federal lawsuit against the school district.

Sarah, 16, and her mother, Theresa Shaffer, filed the lawsuit Dec. 28 with the help of the Alliance Defense Fund, a national organization that opposes abortion. Sarah declined comment, but alliance lawyer Matt Bowman said the district wanted to silence Sarah's anti-abortion message.

Mr. Bowman said Penn Cambria Principal Kathy Nagle prohibited Sarah's leaflets because they were "controversial and might start a fight." He also said the principal tried to impose an extra rule in Sarah's case, telling her she had to have her leaflets cleared two weeks before distribution on campus.

School board policy says the principal must review student fliers at least 24 hours before they are handed out. This rule is designed to make sure that materials students distribute at school are not libelous, obscene or intended to incite lawbreaking.

Penn Cambria Superintendent Mary Beth Whited said nobody in the school system ever tried to stop Sarah from speaking out against abortion or any other topic. Rather, Mrs. Whited said, the district merely required that Sarah comply with the same rules every other student must follow.

Sarah is well-known for her activism at Penn Cambria, a high school of 700 students in Cresson, Cambria County. She often arrives on campus wearing hats and sweat shirts emblazoned with anti-abortion messages, Mrs. Whited said. The superintendent said no teacher or principal has ever said a word about the way Sarah dresses or the beliefs she holds.

But when it came to the fliers, Sarah violated two parts of district rules, Mrs. Whited said.

One was that Sarah did not clear the leaflets through the principal in advance. The second was that Sarah brought the fliers to chemistry class. District policy says students can distribute leaflets before and after school and during lunchtime.

Classes are off limits because an unexpected discussion about abortion or war means chemistry or geometry are not getting the attention they deserve, said Dave Andrews, the school district's solicitor.

Sarah maintains that she cleared her leaflets in advance with an assistant principal because that was who the office staff advised her to see.

But Mrs. Whited said the school staff was blindsided. She also said teachers were exceptionally tolerant of Sarah's position the day of the confrontation.

Sarah arrived at school wearing a piece of red duct tape over mouth, her lawyer said. The tape said: "Ask me why I'm not talking," and was linked to a day of silence for the deaths of unborn children.

In gym class, the teacher asked Sarah to take off the tape so it would not interfere with her breathing while she ran and exercised, Mr. Andrews said. Sarah complied.

Otherwise, nobody said a word about her mouth being taped shut. Only when she tried to distribute the leaflets in class did the principal intervene, Mrs. Whited said.

Mr. Bowman, Sarah's lawyer, disputes this account. "The school is making unfounded and inconsistent claims to hide the fact that they discriminated against Sarah's pro-life viewpoint," he said.

Despite the harsh words, the two sides have struck an agreement. Sarah is free to hand out her leaflets, provided the principal sees them one day in advance. They cannot be passed out during class.

She plans her next distribution Jan. 22, to coincide with the anniversary of the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.

The district says it gave up nothing and stuck to reasonable policy. "We didn't even pay attorney fees," Mrs. Whited said.

But Mr. Bowman said the principal has backed off her position that Sarah's stand against abortion was too hot a topic for the school district.