(The Center Square) – The Everett School District has agreed to pay $275,000 in attorney fees to settle a suit brought in a case over an elementary school Bible club.
First Liberty Institute and Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, LLP settled the lawsuit on behalf of LifeWise Academy against the district.
“The settlement requires the Board to undergo religious liberty training, make changes to the district’s policies governing religious activities, issue a public written apology for its actions visible for six months, and pay $275,000 in attorney’s fees,” wrote First Liberty in a press release.
Background
LifeWise Academy is set up near Emerson Elementary School in Everett, holding its classes off-campus at New Hope Assembly Church.
At issue was a lunchtime voluntary gathering of students who with parent permission wanted to go meet and discuss their religious values.
But the school board adopted regulations requiring LifeWise students to conceal any written materials they received from LifeWise in a sealed envelope in their backpacks, and they required the parents to provide weekly reauthorization for students to participate in LifeWise, according to First Liberty.
Everett School board member Charles Adkins also made comments critical of LifeWise during public meetings.
“I want to make it very, extremely, abundantly clear, that yes, I do in fact hold animus toward LifeWise Academy,” Adkins said during one meeting.
The district issued an apology as part of the settlement acknowledging those actions and comments.
“The District recognizes that comments made at various Board meetings that concerned LifeWise, including by Directors, were offensive and hurtful to the families participating in LifeWise programming,” wrote Dr. Ian Saltzman, Superintendent, and other board members, including Adkins.
“For that, the District and its Board of Directors offer a sincere apology. We recognize that these statements negatively affected the exercise of your faith. The District values the rights of all families to raise their children according to their own religious beliefs. We further apologize to any students or families that were made to feel by these comments that your religious beliefs are unworthy of respect.”
Holly Randall, attorney with First Liberty told The Center Square students are allowed to leave campus during what is called “Released Time for Religious Instruction,” where public school students are voluntarily released during the school day – with written parental consent – to attend off-campus religious classes provided by private organizations.
“It allows students to leave the school during the school day and receive Bible education. So as long as it takes place off school property, according to a parent’s consent, it’s a voluntary program and no public funds are used to establish or support the program, then the Supreme Court said it’s constitutional for those students to leave during the day and receive Bible education,” said Randall.
The $275,000 settlement will be paid to the plaintiffs in the case, Sarah Sweeny, who helped start the LifeWise program in Everett, and the LifeWise nonprofit organization itself. The payment will come from the district’s general fund, according to First Liberty.
The Everett School District settlement follows several recent school district settlements or large jury awards where districts were found liable for failing students.
As reported by The Center Square, this has led to premium increases for districts who pay into the Washington Risk Management Pool, where this past Spring, premiums went up 45%.
School districts contribute funds to the risk pool, which is different than liability insurance. The dollars are pooled collectively to pay for settlements or verdicts against districts, with the idea of keeping rates more manageable for all.
The risk management pool provides liability coverage to more than a third of school districts in Washington, but some large payouts in recent years have led to the skyrocketing premiums.
“Religious discrimination has no place in public schools,” said Stephanie Taub, Senior Counsel at First Liberty Institute. “We are grateful to have reached this settlement on behalf of LifeWise. This is a tremendous victory not only for our clients but for all religious release time programs.”