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California school district sued over mosque field trip with religious activities
ReCalifornia school district sued over mosque field trip with religious activities
A group of multi-faith parents has filed a lawsuit against Palo Alto Unified School District and Palo Alto High School's principal over a field trip to a mosque where students were allegedly encouraged to wear religious attire and given Qurans without parental consent.
A group of Jewish, Hindu, and Zoroastrian parents has filed a joint lawsuit against Palo Alto Unified School District and Palo Alto High School Principal Brent Kline over a field trip to a local mosque last year. The August 7 complaint alleges that students participating in the school's Social Justice Pathway curriculum were encouraged to don Muslim religious attire and received Qurans without parental consent.
According to the lawsuit, the field trip was hosted by the Muslim Community Association and included several religious activities. Students allegedly observed a Dhuhr prayer, discussed the meaning of worship, and engaged with participants in the Noor Hifz Academy, the host institution's religious youth program in which Islamic students memorize the Quran. The complaint states that female students were provided hijabs to wear and that all students were gifted Qurans to take home for personal use.
The lawsuit also claims that students spoke with Zahra Billoo, executive director of the Bay Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, who has previously faced controversy over allegedly antisemitic statements. David Rosenberg-Wohl, the attorney representing the parents, said the core issue is a public school specifically promoting Islam within its curriculum. "In effect, kids are being told that if they are progressive and interested in social justice, Islam is the faith for them. That is not the business of a public school," he said. "It's not an issue of religion v. religion. It's an American one. The separation of church and state is a bedrock issue here."
The Muslim Community Association defended its role in the field trip, expressing deep concern over the lawsuit. The organization said that treating students' exposure to ordinary Muslim faith and practice as inherently coercive risks reinforcing the very Islamophobia that educational engagement should help overcome. Palo Alto Unified Superintendent Jason Glass said he is reviewing the allegations but will not comment further on pending litigation.
Some students have pushed back against the lawsuit's characterizations. Juni Thurston, editor-in-chief of the student newspaper The Paly Voice, disputed claims that female students were forced to wear hijabs or that students were indoctrinated with Islamic beliefs. "The vast majority of the people demonizing the teachers who arranged and chaperoned this field trip simply don't know them," Thurston wrote in an op-ed. "The idea that they would be working to indoctrinate students into Islam, or any religion, is an idea extremely foreign to me as a student who has had them as my teachers for the past two years." However, Thurston acknowledged concerns over Billoo's presence and agreed she should not have been part of the experience, though her role was limited.
Legal experts note that the case raises First Amendment questions. Adam Goldstein, vice president of strategic initiatives at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, said that if students were compelled to wear religious attire, it would conflict with the First Amendment's bar on compelled speech. "Just as the First Amendment prevents public schools from forcing students to pledge allegiance to the flag, it prevents those schools from compelling them to wear religious attire," Goldstein said.
