California Parents Sue High School Over Mosque Visit and Hijab Encouragement in Social Justice Program

A group of parents and former students from a high school in Palo Alto, California, has filed a lawsuit against the school and the local education district. The suit alleges that during a curriculum program called "Pathway to Social Justice," students were taken on a visit to a mosque where they were given copies of the Quran and girls were encouraged to wear hijabs, according to the New York Post. The lawsuit was filed by the organization "Community Members for Religious Neutrality in Public Schools," representing two Jewish parents, three former Jewish students, a Hindu parent, and a Zoroastrian parent.

In addition to the distribution of the Quran and encouragement to wear hijabs, the plaintiffs claim that students were photographed and their images published online without parental consent. Central to the case is the issue of the boundary between pedagogical teaching about religion and promoting religious practices.

The lawsuit also highlights the involvement of Zahra Billoo, a Muslim preacher and director of the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). Billoo drew criticism in May after urging her supporters to "be more discreet regarding hatred of Zionists." Jason Glass, the superintendent of the education district, stated that the district is reviewing its policies and emphasized that any religious instruction must be strictly academic.

Billoo denied the allegations, calling the lawsuit "misleading" and stressing that education's role is to expose students to diverse worldviews and that participation was voluntary.