A Bay Area school district is being sued over a mosque field trip where students were allegedly given Qurans and encouraged to wear hijabs.
The federal lawsuit, filed August 7 by Community Members for Religious Neutrality in Public Schools, targets Palo Alto Unified School District and Palo Alto High School principal Brent Kline. The group represents two Jewish parents, three former Jewish students, a Hindu parent, and a Zoroastrian parent, according to the complaint. The students were enrolled in the school’s Social Justice Pathway program when the trip occurred last fall.
The lawsuit alleges female students were encouraged to wear hijabs during the mosque visit and that students were handed Qurans. It also claims photos of students were taken and posted online without parental consent. The parents argue the school exposed children to the idea that Islam was aligned with social justice work, violating principles of religious neutrality in public education.
PAUSD Superintendent Jason Glass told the San Francisco Chronicle in a statement that the district only learned of the lawsuit through news coverage and had not been formally served. “Glass said any religious teachings must be academic and not devotional,” the Chronicle reported. He added that the district is reviewing its practices.
The lawsuit also brought attention to Zahra Billoo, executive director of the Bay Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, who the parents alleged students were “exposed” to during the trip. Billoo had drawn criticism for statements in a May video clip where she discussed anti-Zionist messaging. “Now imagine your LinkedIn profile says, ‘I hate all Zionists,'” Billoo said in the clip. “Not strategic. Right? … You may say that sitting around Kahwah House on a Friday night, but you’re not going to say it on your LinkedIn.”
Billoo told the Chronicle the lawsuit was “misguided.”
“Public schools and the government have an obligation to remain neutral toward religion, but what neutrality does not mean is shielding students entirely,” Billoo said. “The job of educators is to teach students, and expose them to different worldviews. That’s what happened here.”
She argued the students’ participation was voluntary and they were taught about Islamic religious practices rather than being subjected to religious indoctrination. Billoo accused the parents of seeking to block educational exposure to other faiths.
“One of the most important ways we combat hate is to learn about each other,” Billoo said. “I am concerned that this group of parents not only wants to counteract that for their own children… but is attempting to intimidate schools and school districts from doing necessary work of educating the next generation.”
The parents are seeking an admission from the school district that it was negligent in supervising students and violated privacy rights and due process protections.
In the viral moment that sparked the legal action, students in the Social Justice Pathway program visited a mosque last fall as part of their coursework. Female students were allegedly encouraged to wear hijabs, Islamic head coverings worn by practicing Muslim women and girls, and students were reportedly given copies of the Quran. The lawsuit claims photos from the trip were posted online without parental consent, and the parents objected that their children were presented with a view linking Islam to social justice causes.
The district has not indicated when its review of field trip practices will be completed.