A California high school is being sued by parents and alumni after taking a field trip to a mosque where students were given Qurans and the use of hijabs was promoted.
Palo Alto High School made this trip in the fall of 2025, which was organized through the Social Justice Pathway program. Parents claim that the visit presented Islam as aligned with social justice work and that photographs were taken and later published online without parental consent.
The lawsuit names the educational institution, the school district, and the district superintendent, Jason Glass, an official close to Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom. In the complaint, parents demand that the district admit that it did not adequately supervise the students and violated the privacy rights of both students and parents.
The Democratic governor of California, Gavin Newsom
The complainants also expressed that the youths were "exposed" to Zahra Billoo, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) office in the Bay Area, violating their religious freedom.
Billoo, who is known for her antisemitic statements, defended herself by saying that "public schools and the government have an obligation to maintain a neutral stance toward religion, but neutrality does not mean completely shielding students" and pointed out that "the task of educators is to teach students and expose them to different worldviews."
The Muslim activist justified the students' visit as "one of the most important ways to combat hate" and expressed concern that this group of parents not only wants to prevent that for their own children but also seeks to intimidate schools and school districts to steer them away from the necessary work of educating future generations."
