Zah a
Billoo,
CAIR
official,
called
the
lawsuit
misguided
a d
said
the
pa ticipatio
of
the
stude ts
i
that
field
t ip
was
volu ta y.
Two
Jewish
pa e ts,
th ee
fo me
Jewish
stude ts,
a
Hi du
pa e t
a d
a
Zo oast ia
pa e t
have
sued
Palo
Alto
U ified
School
Dist ict
a d
Palo
Alto
High
School
p i cipal
B e t
Kli e
afte
the
stude ts
we e
e cou aged
to
wea
hijab
a d
we e
give
Qu a s
du i g
what
was
supposed
to
be
a
field
t ip
to
a
mosque.
The
i cide t
took
place
last
fall
whe
the
Califo ia
school’s
Social
Justice
Pathway
p og am
co ducted
a
field
t ip.
The
lawsuit
said
that
the
female
stude ts
we e
e cou aged
to
wea
hijabs
a d
the
photos
of
the
stude ts
we e
take
a d
posted
o li e
without
taki g
the
co se t
f om
the
pa e ts.The
pa e ts
said
the
stude ts
we e
“exposed”
to
Zah a
Billoo,
the
executive
di ecto
of
the
Bay
A ea’s
office
of
the
Cou cil
o
Ame ica -Islamic
Relatio s.
The
pa e ts
called
Billoo
co t ove sial
a d
alleged
that
she
was
give
f ee
access
to
stude ts
to
advocate
“pe so al
eligious
a d
political
views”.
School
k ew
a d
did
othi g,
says
lawsuit,
School
cou te s
The
pa e ts
claimed
that
the
school
officials
“k ew
o
should
have
k ow
of
the
ecu i g
atu e
of
the
challe ged
field
t ips,
the
fo eseeable
isk
that
stude ts
would
be
exposed
to
eligious
activity
a d
ideological
messagi g
du i g
those
eve ts,
a d
the
isk
that
stude t
images
would
be
captu ed
a d
publicly
dissemi ated
i
a
eligious
co text.”
School
supe i te de t
Jaso
Glass
issued
a
stateme t
afte
the
lawsuit
a d
said
they
we e
yet
to
see
the
docume ts.
“What
I
ca
say
is
what
ou
boa d
policy
equi es.
I st uctio
about
eligio
i
ou
schools
must
be
academic,
ot
devotio al.
No
faith
may
be
p omoted,
a d
o
faith
may
be
de ig ated,”
Glass
said.
“Eve y
family
i
this
dist ict
is
e titled
to
expect
that
sta da d,
a d
I
will
eview
ou
p actice
agai st
it.”Billoo
eacted
to
the
lawsuit
a d
called
it’misguided’.
“Public
schools
a d
the
gove me t
have
a
obligatio
to
emai
eut al
towa d
eligio ,
but
what
eut ality
does
ot
mea
is
shieldi g
stude ts
e ti ely,”
Billoo
said
to
Sa
F a cisco
Ch o icle.
“The
job
of
educato s
is
to
teach
stude ts,
a d
expose
them
to
diffe e t
wo ldviews.
That’s
what
happe ed
he e.”“O e
of
the
most
impo ta t
ways
we
combat
hate
is
to
lea
about
each
othe ,”
Billoo
said,
addi g
that
the
pa ticipatio
of
the
stude ts
was
volu ta y.
“I
am
co ce ed
that
this
g oup
of
pa e ts
ot
o ly
wa ts
to
cou te act
that
fo
thei
ow
child e …
but
is
attempti g
to
i timidate
schools
a d
school
dist icts
f om
doi g
ecessa y
wo k
of
educati g
the
ext
ge e atio .”