Washington school district that forced kids to hide Bibles in sealed envelopes must apologize, pay $275K

A Washington state school district has agreed to publicly apologize, undergo religious liberty training and pay $275,000 in attorney's fees after a lawsuit challenged policies that required elementary school students to keep Bibles concealed in sealed envelopes, according to a Christian education organization whose CEO says children felt pressured to hide their faith.

Joel Penton, founder and CEO of LifeWise Academy, told Fox News Digital in an interview Thursday that parents described the emotional toll of the Everett School District's restrictions, which also included requiring families to submit permission slips every week for their children to attend voluntary, off-campus Bible instruction.

"I also heard from parents that their children felt like they were being told they had to hide their faith when they were told they had to put their Bibles and things in envelopes as though it was something to be ashamed of, and I know that was very hurtful as well," Penton said.

WISCONSIN STUDENT ALLEGES SCHOOL BARRED HER FROM USING BIBLE VERSE AT GRADUATION LifeWise Academy, which provides privately funded Bible instruction to public school students during the school day with parental permission, filed suit after the Everett School District imposed restrictions that the organization argued unfairly targeted its program.

Penton said LifeWise had operated in Everett for several years, serving dozens of students and families, before the school board changed its policies.

"Then the school board changed some of their policies in some ways that were pretty transparently discriminatory, and infringed on the religious liberty of our program there," Penton said.

"And some of those policy changes included requiring parents, instead of simply signing a permission slip one time for the entire semester, the entire year, they were requiring them to hand-bring in a permission slip each and every week, which was quite onerous." Penton said they were told they were not allowed to participate at some of the community fairs, which he claimed other student organizations were able to participate in.

TEXAS BOARD OF EDUCATION APPROVES REQUIRED READING LIST WITH BIBLE PASSAGES FOR 5 MILLION STUDENTS "And then they also told students that if they received any worksheets or even a Bible at our program, when they came back to the school, that those had to come back in sealed envelopes so that other students wouldn't be exposed to them," Penton said.

He argued that the weekly permission requirement threatened the program's ability to operate.