2 weeks ago
Jewish, Hindu, Zoroastrian parents sue California school over mosque visit
Some parents in California are upset about a school trip their children took.
The students visited a mosque, a place where Muslim people go to pray.
During the trip, students were given a holy book called the Quran.
Girls were also told to wear a hijab, a head covering worn by many Muslim women.
The parents, who are Jewish, Hindu, and Zoroastrian, felt this was not fair to all religions.
They also worried because pictures from the trip were shared online without their permission.
The parents decided to take the school to court to complain.
The school's leader said they heard about the lawsuit from the news.
A speaker at the mosque visit said the lawsuit is 'misguided' and that learning about each other helps stop hate.
Now a judge will decide what happens next.
Jewish, Hindu, and Zoroastrian parents and students sued Palo Alto Unified School District and Principal Brent Kline over a 2025 mosque field trip.
The lawsuit alleges students were given Qurans and female students were told to wear hijabs during the visit.
Plaintiffs say photographs of students were posted online without parental consent and that the district failed to vet outside speakers.
Parents objected to speaker Zahra Billoo, CAIR's Bay Area executive director, alleging she made 'hostile and discriminatory statements regarding Jews.'
Superintendent Jason Glass said the district learned of the lawsuit through media reports; Billoo called it 'misguided' and an attempt to 'intimidate schools and school districts.'
- Who
- Jewish, Hindu, and Zoroastrian parents and students affiliated with Community Members for Religious Neutrality in Public Schools, suing Palo Alto Unified School District and Palo Alto High School Principal Brent Kline; Superintendent Jason Glass and CAIR's Zahra Billoo also feature in the dispute.
- What
- A lawsuit claiming a school-sponsored mosque field trip violated religious neutrality: students were given Qurans, girls were told to wear hijabs, and photos were posted online without consent.
- Where
- Palo Alto, California, with the field trip at the Muslim Community Association's mosque in Santa Clara.
- When
- 2025 — the year of the field trip; the lawsuit's filing date is not stated in the article.
- Why
- Plaintiffs allege the district failed to maintain religious neutrality, ensure equal treatment among faiths, protect student privacy, and vet religiously divisive outside speakers.
Supporters of the interfaith education trip
Plaintiff families seeking religious neutrality
Religious neutrality of the mosque visit
Supporters of the interfaith education trip
CAIR's Zahra Billoo said learning about one another is one of the most effective ways to combat hate, and that the lawsuit tries to intimidate schools from doing the necessary work of educating the next generation.
Plaintiff families seeking religious neutrality
The plaintiffs say handing students Qurans and having girls wear hijabs turned an academic trip into devotional instruction, and that the district failed to maintain religious neutrality and equal treatment among faiths.
Zahra Billoo as an outside speaker
Supporters of the interfaith education trip
Billoo dismissed the lawsuit as 'misguided' and framed her involvement as part of interfaith education meant to combat hate.
Plaintiff families seeking religious neutrality
Plaintiffs say Billoo previously made 'hostile and discriminatory statements regarding Jews' and that the district failed to vet, supervise, and monitor religiously divisive outside speakers.
Key facts
- Plaintiffs
- Jewish, Hindu, and Zoroastrian parents and students, plus four anonymous Jewish individuals
- Defendants
- Palo Alto Unified School District; Palo Alto High School Principal Brent Kline
- Field trip location
- Muslim Community Association mosque, Santa Clara, California
- Field trip year
- 2025
- Core allegations
- Students given Qurans; female students told to wear hijabs; photos posted online without parental consent
- Objected speaker
- Zahra Billoo, Executive Director of the Bay Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
- District response
- Superintendent Jason Glass: district learned of the lawsuit via media reports and had not been formally served; reviewing practices, as religion instruction must be academic, not devotional
- Plaintiffs' affiliation
- Community Members for Religious Neutrality in Public Schools
Quotes
Zahra Billoo
Executive Director of the Bay Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
“"One of the most important ways we combat hate is to learn about each other. 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."”
firstpost.com
Sources
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