Imagine the reaction if this were a CHURCH: Parents sue after public school mosque trip

BS BULLETIN:

Jewish, Hindu and Zoroastrian families are suing Palo Alto Unified over a school-sponsored mosque trip.
The suit alleges girls were encouraged to wear hijabs, students received Qurans, observed prayer and heard Islam linked to social justice.
The district says its policy requires religious instruction to be academic, not devotional, and says it is reviewing the allegations.

Try a little thought experiment.

Imagine a California public high school took students to an evangelical church as part of something called its “Social Justice Pathway.”

Imagine the girls were encouraged to put on Christian religious attire. Imagine every student was handed a Bible to take home. Imagine they watched a worship service, interacted with kids memorizing Bible verses and heard Christianity presented as particularly compatible with social justice.

How many minutes before the ACLU’s phones melted?

That’s essentially the question lurking behind a federal lawsuit against Palo Alto Unified School District and Palo Alto High School Principal Brent Kline — except the house of worship was a mosque and the religion was Islam.

The lawsuit was filed by Community Members for Religious Neutrality in Public Schools-San Francisco Bay Area and a multi-faith group that includes Jewish, Hindu and Zoroastrian parents, students and community members.

This isn’t a lawsuit brought by Christians demanding Christianity be put into the classroom. The plaintiffs’ argument is that public schools shouldn’t be promoting any religion.

The controversy centers on a fall 2025 trip by students enrolled in Palo Alto High School’s Social Justice Pathway to the Muslim Community Association in Santa Clara. According to the complaint, the mosque was the only house of worship included in the program.

The parents allege students were provided Muslim religious attire and encouraged to wear it, including hijabs for female students. Students were given Qurans to take home, observed Dhuhr prayer, discussed worship and interacted with participants in the Noor Hifz Academy, a youth program where Islamic students memorize the Quran. The complaint further alleges that students were taught that Islam in particular promotes social justice.

That is where attorney David Rosenberg-Wohl says the public school crossed the line. “In effect, kids are being told that if they are progressive and interested in social justice, Islam is the faith for them,” Rosenberg-Wohl told Fox News. “That is not the business of a public school.”

Students also encountered Zahra Billoo, executive director of the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. The lawsuit describes Billoo as a controversial figure with a history of hostile statements regarding Jews and alleges she was allowed to present religious and political views without an adequate balancing perspective.

Billoo disputes that characterization of the trip. She told the San Francisco Chronicle that students heard about her experiences as an American Muslim woman involved in civil rights and social justice and argued that exposing students to different worldviews isn’t the same thing as indoctrination.

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression says the constitutional distinction could be important. FIRE’s Adam Goldstein told Fox News that if a public school actually compelled students to wear religious clothing, it would run afoul of First Amendment protections against compelled speech.

The lawsuit raises another issue parents may find just as disturbing: photographs. Plaintiffs allege students were photographed inside the mosque, including while wearing religious attire, and that identifiable images were subsequently made public without adequate parental consent.

Palo Alto Unified Superintendent Jason Glass isn’t conceding any of it. He said the district learned about the lawsuit through news reports and had not verified the allegations when he initially responded.

But Glass also stated the standard rather clearly. Instruction about religion in Palo Alto schools must be “academic, not devotional,” he said. No religion may be promoted or denigrated, and the district is reviewing its practices against that policy.

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