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A Washington state school district has agreed to publicly apologize, undergo religious liberty training and pay $275,000 in attorney’s fees after a lawsuit challenged policies that required elementary school students to keep Bibles concealed in sealed envelopes, according to a Christian education organization whose CEO says children felt pressured to hide their faith.
Joel Penton, founder and CEO of LifeWise Academy, told Fox News Digital in an interview Thursday that parents described the emotional toll of the Everett School District’s restrictions, which also included requiring families to submit permission slips every week for their children to attend voluntary, off-campus Bible instruction.
“I 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,” Penton said.
LifeWise Academy, which provides privately funded Bible instruction to public school students during the school day with parental permission, filed suit after the Everett School District imposed restrictions that the organization argued unfairly targeted its program.
Penton said LifeWise had operated in Everett for several years, serving dozens of students and families, before the school board changed its policies.
“Then 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.”
Penton said they were told they were not allowed to participate at some of the community fairs, which he claimed other student organizations were able to participate in.
“And then they also told students that if they received any worksheets or even a Bible at our program, when they came back to the school, that those had to come back in sealed envelopes so that other students wouldn’t be exposed to them,” Penton said.
He argued that the weekly permission requirement threatened the program’s ability to operate.
“We knew at least with the permission slip policy that it was meant to effectively shut down the program, that one of the reasons students, parents enroll their students is because of how practical and convenient it is for them to receive Bible education during school hours as part of their school day,” Penton said. “And 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.”
Penton said LifeWise initially attempted to resolve the dispute directly with school officials and later through an attorney before filing suit.
In April, a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction against the district, according to LifeWise.
The settlement announced Wednesday by LifeWise Academy requires changes to district policies, religious liberty training for school board members, a public written apology posted on the district’s website for six months and $275,000 in attorney’s fees, according to the organization.
The announcement of the settlement quoted a statement from the district which said, “The District recognizes that comments made at various Board meetings that concerned LifeWise, including by Directors, were offensive and hurtful to the families participating in LifeWise programming. For that, the District and its Board of Directors offer a sincere apology.”
In a statement posted on their website, Everett Public Schools said, “Parents 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. The 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.”
“Religious discrimination has no place in public schools,” Stephanie Taub, senior counsel at First Liberty Institute, told Fox News Digital. “We are grateful to have reached this settlement on behalf of LifeWise. This is a tremendous victory not only for our clients but for all religious release time programs.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the Everett School District for comment and was referred back to the district’s statement, with the school district saying, “There were no changes to the policy. The Student Release Guidelines have been updated to comply with the terms of the settlement.”