Court To Reopen Lawsuit Over Islam In Chatham Curriculum

CHATHAM, NJ — A federal court has reopened a previously dismissed lawsuit filed by a mother against the Chathams School District, alleging that the seventh-grade social studies curriculum was a "direct call" to students to convert to Islam.

The original lawsuit was dismissed nearly four years after Libby Hilsenrath objected to the Islam-focused lessons at a board meeting and then took her complaints to a national audience on Fox News.

United States Circuit Judges Thomas Hardiman and Paul Brian Matey and Chief Circuit Judge Michael A. Chagares reopened the case on July 20 in the United States Court of Appeals, claiming that summary judgment is appropriate in the original lawsuit.

"On June 28, 2022, we notified the parties that we were considering taking summary action in this case. We provided them with an opportunity to respond, but only Appellant responded, and we have considered Appellant’s submission. We conclude that summary action is appropriate," the court filing said.

The decision was made in response to the recent Supreme Court decision in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, Chagares said. "We hereby vacate the District Court’s judgment entered on November 12, 2020, and remand this case to the District Court for further consideration in light of the Supreme Court’s opinion."

In the Supreme Court case Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, petitioner Joseph Kennedy was fired as a high school football coach in the Bremerton School District after kneeling at midfield after games to offer a quiet personal prayer. Kennedy filed a federal lawsuit, alleging that the District's actions violated the First Amendment's Free Speech and Free Exercise Clauses.

The Supreme Court ruled in June 2022 in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, siding with Kennedy.

In Nov. 2020 U.S. District Judge Kevin McNulty dismissed Hilsenrath's complaint "with prejudice," giving her no option to refile it. "I am acutely aware that this is public, not parochial, education," McNulty said in his 30-page opinion. "Religion, however, is a fact about the world, and no study of geography and cultures is complete without it."

In her complaint, Hilsenrath claimed that during the 2016-17 school year, her son was required to view materials and complete assignments in his World Cultures and Geography class that contained religious teachings about Islam — presented as "facts" rather than beliefs.

The lawsuit focused on two YouTube videos as part of the materials. Hilsenrath claimed one of the videos, "5 minutes introduction to Islam," was a "conversion video, replete with biased, chastising statements." She also claimed a video called "The 5 Pillars of Islam" shows a Muslim child trying to convert a non-Muslim child. The cartoon was made to "purposely appeal to those of an impressible age," Hilsenrath said.

Hilsenrath sued the district, the Board of Education, Superintendent Michael LaSusa, Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Karen Chase, Chatham Middle School Principal Jill Gihorski, the school's social studies supervisor, and two teachers, among others.