Local school approves interfaith club after students threaten lawsuit

UPDATE, 5/8/24 at 1:45 p.m.: The Jason Rantz Show received the following statement from the First Liberty Institute:

The Issaquah (WA) School District will allow two elementary school students to start an interfaith prayer club at Creekside Elementary School. The school previously denied the fifth-grader’s request to start the club though it actively promoted more than a dozen non-religious clubs, including a Pride Club and the Green Team. After advocacy from First Liberty attorneys and Mark C. Lamb of Carney Badley Spellman, P.S., the school district reversed course.”

Original story:

Two local students allege their school principal is denying them the ability to form an interfaith club. Their lawyer says it is religious discrimination. 

Lawyer Kayla Toney, with First Liberty Institute, is representing the two students at Creekside Elementary in Sammamish. They are threatening to sue the school for its refusal to allow a prayer club students wanted to create to feel more accepted for their religious views. While the school did not specifically say they didn’t want a religious club, Toney believes they are not providing equal treatment. 

“The reason (the principal) gave was that clubs had already been established for the year back in October. Now, nobody knew that. Apparently, there was a meeting that was not publicized when the budget was decided on in October, as far as we can tell. But the Pride Club had been allowed to start just a week before Laura’s request in February,” Toney said on The Jason Rantz Show on KTTH.

Was the club denied because of religious discrimination?

Toney noted there was also a marimba club that was given the green light to start in a couple of weeks — right before the end of the school year.

“It just didn’t seem like equal treatment. And the Constitution and the Supreme Court guarantee equal treatment for religious clubs,” she added. 

This is not the first time the state of Washington has been embroiled in a religious liberty battle.  

High school football coach Joe Kennedy took his case, against the Bremerton School District, all the way to the Supreme Court in 2022 after he was not allowed to pray at midfield after a game. He eventually won his case in a 6-3 decision in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District.

Toney sent a letter to the school on April 9 and has given them two weeks to respond. If they do not reply by Monday, they plan to go to court. 

You can listen to KTTH Host Jason Rantz’s full interview with Toney here or click on the player below.

Editors note: This piece was originally published on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, and has been updated since then.

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