by Jayla Ward • 3 minutes
First Liberty recently filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of our client, LifeWise Academy, against the Everett Public School District in Washington. We’re challenging the district’s regulations on permitted release-time religious instruction for students.
LifeWise Academy is a non-profit organization with a mission to bring Bible teaching to children in public schools through a release time program. Under the law, students can be released to receive religious education, as long as the program is off school property, privately funded and parents give their permission.
Despite LifeWise having strong parental support and meeting all the necessary criteria, the school district has created obstacles for families who want their children to be in the program.
Our attorneys sent a letter to school district officials in November urging them to address the unconstitutional policies.
School Board Member Charles Adkins publicly responded at a board meeting and openly admitted that he does “in fact hold animus toward LifeWise Academy.”
Adkins made offensive and hostile remarks, falsely claiming that LifeWise’s mission is “to bring white supremacy and Christian nationalism to our schools” and to “snuff out the cultures, religion, and language of native kids and other kids of color.”
He groundlessly alleged that LifeWise “is an organization of homophobic bullies who are active and willing participants in the efforts to bring about an authoritarian theocracy.”
He continued his malicious accusation that LifeWise is engaged in an “effort to turn our nation into a fascist theocracy.” Saying the quiet part out loud, he made his intentions clear: On these bases, Mr. Adkins declared that LifeWise “cannot be allowed to have access to our kids.”
Last fall, the Board prohibited LifeWise from participating in community events and displaying its flyers and required students to conceal any written materials they receive from LifeWise in a sealed envelope in their backpacks.
It also forces parents to follow a complicated and burdensome permission-slip policy, making them reauthorize their students’ participation weekly. No other organization, parent, or child who participates in secular clubs or activities has had to meet any of these conditions.
“Now a member of the school board has admitted publicly that the his actions against LifeWise are out of intentional, hostility toward religion,” said Jeremy Dys, Senior Counsel at First Liberty. “School officials cannot prefer religion over nonreligion, nor may they throw obstacles in the path of parents simply trying raise their children according to their religious convictions.”
Our lawsuit explains that the school district’s regulations are unconstitutional and impose subjective standards targeting religious groups. We point to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Mahmoud v. Taylor from this past summer, which made clear that “government schools, like all government institutions, may not place unconstitutional burdens on religious exercise.”
“Purposefully hindering the operation of an out-of-school program just because it’s religious is a direct violation of the First Amendment,” Dys continued.
Supreme Court precedent gives parents the legal right to choose release-time religious instruction for their children during school hours. School districts that accommodate parents who want their students to participate in release-time religious instruction, as the Supreme Court said, follow “the best of our traditions. For it then respects the religious nature of our people and accommodates the public service to their spiritual needs.”
 |
|
|
