Public School's Own Admissions Reveal It Violated a 6th Grader's Christian Faith

For years, Highline Public Schools promised it would stop treating a student's faith as unlawful. This week, the district's own words proved it never kept that promise. In a newly filed reply brief, the ACLJ laid out how Highline's attempt to dodge a preliminary injunction collapses under Highline’s own admissions.

Highline’s opposition brief tried to muddy the facts, claim mootness, and paint our client’s (J.H.) father was unreasonable for not objecting to an assembly he was never told about. Our reply shows that Highline, itself, has admitted to its unconstitutional conduct.

If you've followed this case, you know this fight didn't start this year. It goes back to when J.H. was in second grade at North Hill Elementary, when school officials repeatedly searched her backpack and confiscated her Bible and Gospel tracts simply because she talked about her faith with classmates. The ACLJ sent Highline a demand letter, and the district admitted it was wrong and promised, in writing, to let her exercise her faith freely going forward.

That promise didn't hold. Years later at Sylvester Middle School, Vice Principal Lori McEwen pulled J.H. out of class over the Gospel tracts she was handing out at lunch – even though Highline's own pre-suit letter had already acknowledged that it was permitted. And then, when J.H. asked about starting a Christian club, McEwen told her she'd need to find her own teacher sponsor, a requirement found nowhere in Highline's actual policy, which places that responsibility on the principal. That was demand letter number two.

Then came the Inclusion Assembly. On May 29, the entire student body at Sylvester was marched into a mandatory Inclusion Assembly with content conflicting with religious beliefs and no advance warning to parents. J.H. grew visibly upset and quietly asked a teacher to leave, and told staff directly that she didn't believe in what was being presented. She was sent back in anyway and told that she had "no choice." Her father was never contacted. This resulted in demand letter number three. That was three demand letters, and three chances for Highline to correct course – each was declined. That’s three strikes.

So, the ACLJ filed suit on Jonathan and J.H.'s behalf, and shortly we moved for a preliminary injunction to restore the notice-and-opt-out protections Highline had abandoned. This reply brief is the next chapter in that fight.

Our reply makes two central points. First, no matter how Highline spins the hallway conversation, its own witnesses admit the facts that matter: Highline held a mandatory Inclusion Assembly with content conflicting with religious beliefs, J.H. was visibly upset and said she didn't believe in what was being presented, and her father got no advance notice and no real opt-out opportunity. Highline's declarations don't just fail to rebut those facts – they confirm them.

Second, Highline's promise to post an assembly calendar next year doesn't moot anything. A calendar that tells parents an assembly is happening – without saying what it's about – isn't notice of anything constitutionally meaningful. The brief points out that J.H. and a friend asked multiple teachers what the assembly would even cover and got no answer. If the school's own staff didn't know, a bare date on a calendar was never going to let a father decide whether the content conflicted with his family's faith.

The brief also presses the argument that Highline conveniently avoided: This isn't just about one assembly. Three separate episodes – the backpack searches, the Gospel tract confrontation, and the assembly – add up to a pattern of treating J.H.'s religious expression as uniquely suspect. And under Mahmoud v. Taylor, decided by the Supreme Court just last year, the right to opt out and the right to notice rise and fall together. Highline gave neither.

We'll keep you posted as the court weighs our motion.

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