Parents choose Bible instruction. Everett agreed to apologize for restricting it
After Everett restricted LifeWise’s parent-approved Bible classes, its settlement requires policy changes, board training, a public apology and $275,000 in fees.
Parents—not school boards—decide whether their children receive Bible instruction. On Oct. 13, 2026, Everett’s school board approved a settlement with LifeWise Academy. Fox News (@FoxNews_Flash) reported on Oct. 16, 2026, that Everett required elementary students returning from voluntary, off-campus Bible instruction to keep Bibles sealed in envelopes in their backpacks. Fox News reported the sealed-Bible requirement [First Liberty Institute](https://familybrief. news/organization/first-liberty-institute), a Christian conservative legal organization founded in 1997, says Everett barred LifeWise from community events and flyer displays, required weekly parental reauthorization, and required students to keep LifeWise materials, including Bibles, sealed in their backpacks; it says no other program faced similar rules.
What lesson does a school teach when a child’s Bible must stay sealed away? The practical message is that the family’s religious choice requires special containment. Parents should challenge that treatment, and school boards should never impose it.
Parents approved the class; the district restricted it
LifeWise Academy describes its program as optional, privately funded Bible education held off school property with parental permission1. KOMO explains that a 1952 Supreme Court ruling allows school-day religious instruction under those conditions2.
Yet Everett required parents to hand-deliver permission slips every week instead of signing once per semester, Fox News Flash reported3. That requirement turned an affirmative parental decision into a recurring administrative chore. Families were choosing an outside class; they were not asking district teachers to conduct Bible lessons.
A federal judge ordered equal access
Everett defended its actions as “reasonable, viewpoint-neutral,” according to a court document described by HeraldNet4.
In April 2026, U.S. District Judge Lauren King issued a preliminary injunction directing Everett to change its permission-slip process, admit LifeWise to community resource fairs, and let students read its materials when other non-school materials were allowed, HeraldNet reported4. Equal treatment supplies a straightforward standard: a religious viewpoint cannot be the reason a family’s chosen program gets worse access.
The district apologized to LifeWise families
School board member Charles Adkins had made his hostility explicit: “I want to make it very, extremely, abundantly clear, that yes, I do in fact hold animus toward LifeWise Academy,” according to First Liberty Institute, which represented LifeWise5.
The district’s apology reaches the people affected by its rules: “The District apologizes for the frustration and difficulty its actions caused those students and families,” HeraldNet reported4. First Liberty also quotes the apology’s acknowledgment that board-meeting comments were “offensive and hurtful to the families participating in LifeWise programming.”5 An official’s dislike of a religious organization gives that official no license to burden participating children.
School boards must respect parents’ choices
First Liberty says the settlement requires board religious-liberty training, changes to policies governing religious activities, a public apology visible for six months, and $275,000 in attorney’s fees5. Parents should demand completion of each commitment and equal treatment in daily practice. Everett’s board must respect families’ lawful religious choices without making children carry the burden of officials’ objections.
Sources
- LifeWise Academy Announces Settlement with Everett School District - LifeWise Academy
- Everett Public Schools reaches settlement over Bible study with religious education group
- @FoxNews_Flash on X, 2026-10-16: A Washington state school district must publicly apologize, undergo religious liberty training and pay $275,000 in attorney's fees after forcing elementary school kids to hide their Bibles in sealed envelopes when returning from voluntary, off-campus Bible, 2026-10-16
- Everett Public Schools settles with LifeWise Academy, ending lawsuit | HeraldNet.com
- Religious Release Time Program Reaches S - First Liberty
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