A group of parents and former students is suing a California school district over a fall 2025 field trip to a mosque that allegedly included students receiving Qurans and being encouraged to wear hijabs, as reported by The Post Millennial.

The legal action involves Palo Alto High School and stems from a trip organized through the school's Social Justice Pathway program.

The parents allege that the school presented Islam as connected to social justice work and failed to maintain appropriate religious neutrality during the outing.

Palo Alto High School students encouraged to wear hijabs, given Qurans during class trip to mosque: suit https://t.co/iMFroze0Uo

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The lawsuit also raises concerns about student privacy. According to the parents, photographs were taken during the trip and later posted online without parental consent.

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The group bringing the lawsuit is represented by Community Members for Religious Neutrality in Public. The lawsuit names the Palo Alto High School principal and the school district as defendants.

The district has pushed back on the allegations, at least in terms of what it has been able to independently verify so far.

Palo Alto Unified School District Superintendent Jason Glass said in a statement to the San Francisco Chronicle that district officials learned about the lawsuit through media reports and had not yet been formally served.

Glass said he had reviewed the complaint but that the district could not independently verify the allegations made in it.

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The parents are seeking an admission from the district that it failed to properly supervise students and violated the privacy rights of students and their parents.

The lawsuit also alleges that students were “exposed” to Zahra Billoo, executive director of the Bay Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Billoo has previously attracted attention over public comments, including statements condemning Zionists.

She rejected the lawsuit and described the legal action as “misguided,” while maintaining that participation in the mosque visit was voluntary.

“Public schools and the government have an obligation to remain neutral toward religion, but what neutrality does not mean is shielding students entirely,” Billoo said.

“The job of educators is to teach students and expose them to different worldviews. That’s what happened here.”

“One of the most important ways we combat hate is to learn about each other,” Billoo added.

“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.”

The dispute places competing claims about religious neutrality and public education at the center of the lawsuit.

The parents argue that the field trip crossed a line by encouraging students to participate in practices associated with Islam while presenting the religion through the school's social justice curriculum.

Billoo, meanwhile, argues that exposing students to different religious and cultural perspectives is part of the educational mission of public schools and that students were not required to participate.

The district's superintendent has not confirmed the parents' allegations, emphasizing that officials could not independently verify the claims contained in the complaint.

The district also said it had learned of the lawsuit through media reports and had not yet been formally served.

The case now puts the details of the 2025 field trip, including what students were given, what activities they were encouraged to participate in, how photographs were handled and how the visit fit within the Social Justice Pathway program, under legal scrutiny.

The lawsuit will ultimately have to address whether the school district maintained religious neutrality, properly supervised students, and protected student and parental privacy during the outing.

For the parents involved, those questions are at the heart of their legal challenge to Palo Alto High School and the school district.

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