A Washington school district has agreed to stop imposing a policy that forced students to hide their Bibles in sealed envelopes. The district must also stop barring a Christian nonprofit from participating in certain school fairs.
LifeWise Academy, a nonprofit which offers public school students voluntary Bible education during school hours, challenged the policies in a lawsuit with the help of First Liberty Institute. As part of the settlement, Everett School District must publicly apologize and pay $275,000 in attorney fees, as well as provide religious liberty training for school board members.
Joel Penton, founder and CEO of LifeWise Academy, shared how the policies had affected families.
โI also heard from parents that their children felt like they were being told they had to hide their faith when they were told they had to put their Bibles and things in envelopes as though it was something to be ashamed of, and I know that was very hurtful as well,โ Penton told Fox News Digital.
Sudden Policy Change
Families participating with LifeWise were overburdened to have to authorize weekly permission slips that informed the school that their children could attend LifeWise Academy Bible instruction. Typically, one-time parental consent is considered sufficient for an entire semester or school year.
โThen the school board changed some of their policies in some ways that were pretty transparently discriminatory and infringed on the religious liberty of our program there,” Penton said. “And some of those policy changes included requiring parents, instead of simply signing a permission slip one time for the entire semester, the entire year, they were requiring them to hand-bring in a permission slip each and every week, which was quite onerous.โ
Parents enroll their students in Lifewise because it is a practical and convenient way for them to receive Bible education as part of their school day, Penton said. โAnd now to tell them that they had to personally bring in a permission slip each and every week just made it really impractical for a lot of parents, and I know there are many who are frustrated about that.โ
LifeWise had been serving in Everett for several years before the policy change. The organization filed suit after its initial attempt to resolve the issue was unsuccessful. A federal judge in April ruled in favor of LifeWise when it granted a preliminary injunction.
Everett Public Schools, in a website statement, said: โParents and guardians have the right to choose to seek the release of their students during the school day for religious-related activities or instruction that occurs off school property for part of the school day pursuant to District Policy 2340 and Procedure 2340P.
โThe policy and procedures align with both Washington State (RCW 28A.600.025) and federal law, with which the district is required to comply. The procedure allows students to be excused for a portion of the school day, provided the instruction is conducted off-site and does not disrupt their regular classroom instructional time.โ
Stephanie Taub, senior counsel at First Liberty Institute, emphasized that โReligious discrimination has no place in public schools.โ
โWe are grateful to have reached this settlement on behalf of LifeWise,โ she said in a press release. โThis is a tremendous victory not only for our clients but for all religious release time programs.โ
LifeWise operates under what is called Released Time Religious Instruction. In 1952, the Supreme Court ruled that during school hours, public school students can receive religious instruction if it is privately funded, parent-permitted and off school property.
