A group of parents and former students of the Palo Alto Unified School District filed a civil rights lawsuit against the district regarding a 2025 school-sponsored field trip to a mosque where students learned about Islam.
The lawsuit was filed on Aug. 8 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against the school district and Brent Kline, the principal of Palo Alto High School, by the Community Members for Religious Neutrality in Public Schools – San Francisco Bay Area, which is composed of several Jewish parents and students, one Hindu parent and one Zoroastrian parent.
In Fall 2025, students enrolled in Palo Alto High School’s Social Justice Pathway visited a mosque in Santa Clara County to promote social justice initiatives.
During that field trip, students were gifted Qurans, female students were encouraged to wear hijabs, and they observed prayers in a "Quran-memorization program," according to the complaint.
Additionally, the lawsuit claims that students were "exposed to Zahra Billoo, who is a controversial speaker" to the Jewish community, and that photographs of the students were taken "in religious attire inside the mosque" without parental consent and were later publicly disseminated by the host institution.
As of Aug. 17, photos of the students were still present on the Muslim Community Association's website, which parents involved in the lawsuit are requesting be taken down. The MCA described the day as an "unforgettable visit" for the nearly 100 students who visited the mosque to foster "conversation that builds bridges of understanding and mutual respect."
Palo Alto Unified School District Superintendent Jason Glass noted that the district had not yet been served with court papers, according to a statement to the San Francisco Chronicle. Glass also noted that the district policy requires that instruction about religion be academic rather than devotional, and that no faith may be promoted or denigrated.
Regarding Billoo, the "controversial speaker," she serves as the Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, San Francisco Bay Area, one of the country's largest Muslim civil rights organizations.
She has also been seen as a controversial figure, having been an outspoken critic of the Israeli government and gotten into controversial situationsin the past due to her old social media posts and statements regarding Israel.
In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Billo said that "any 'exposure' to her during the 2025 field trip was her first-hand experience as an American Muslim woman working in civil rights and social justice."
Additionally, Billo said to the San Francisco Chronicle that she believed the lawsuit was "misguided" and misrepresented the field trip.
Regardless, parents with the Community Members for Religious Neutrality in Public Schools – San Francisco Bay Area argue the school district "failed to maintain religious neutrality, failed to ensure equal treatment among faiths, failed to protect student privacy, and failed to vet, supervise, and monitor religiously divisive outside speakers during the school-sponsored event," according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit seeks monetary damages for the group and an acknowledgment that the district violated California law, students' right to privacy, and parents' rights.
Noe Padilla is a Northern California Reporter for USA Today. Contact him at npadilla@usatodayco.com, follow him on X @1NoePadilla or on Bluesky @noepadilla.bsky.social. Sign up for the TODAY Californian newsletter or follow us on Facebook at TODAY Californian.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Northern California school district sued over mosque field trip
