Court blocks Washington school district’s ‘viewpoint discrimination’ against student ministry

A Washington state school district committed “viewpoint discrimination” in several ways against a Christian ministry that provides “off-site religious instruction to students,” according to a federal judge nominated by President Biden.Everett Public School District north of Seattle must permit LifeWise to participate in its “community resource fairs” and display flyers “where and to the extent secular organizations are allowed to do so,” including one with a “boy praying” that the district said it banned “because it could be viewed as proselytizing,” according to the preliminary injunction by U.S. District Judge Lauren King.
It must also permit Emerson Elementary School students “to be released for LifeWise programs with permission slips that (a) release custody of the students to no more than four specifically named individuals, and (b) allow parents to specify that the release applies on a semester-long basis for each specifically listed date and time during the semester” LifeWise offers the programs, she wrote.
King additionally ordered the district to allow co-plaintiff and LifeWise staffer Sarah Sweeny’s children to “read LifeWise reading materials during times of the school day during which students may read other non-scholastic materials.”
The district hoisted itself on its own petard when board member Charles Adkins publicly confirmed “I do in fact hold animus” toward LifeWise, calling it “an organization of homophobic bullies who are active and willing participants in the efforts to bring about an authoritarian theocracy.”
Other statements “show animus toward LifeWise and support of the hostility expressed by at least one community member,” King wrote. “The proximity in timing also supports a finding that the new permission slip policy,” which requires “designation of a specific adult for pick up each time” for LifeWise, “arose from school board animus toward LifeWise.”
The district also forced LifeWise participants to seal any materials they received from the program off-site, including Bibles, “in an envelope and [be] placed directly into the student’s backpack immediately upon their return to school.”
“Families see the positive impact that Bible-based character education during school hours can have on student behavior and academic performance,” the plaintiffs’ lawyer First Liberty Institute Senior Counsel Jeremy Dys said. We simply want to protect a program that is already serving dozens of local families and ensure that parental freedom is respected.”
Law firm Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner was co-counsel to the plaintiffs. 

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