Lawsuit Over Islam In Chatham Curriculum Appealed Again

CHATHAM, NJ — A lawsuit filed by a mother against the School District of the Chathams, alleging that the seventh-grade social studies curriculum was a "direct call" to students to convert to Islam, has been appealed again.

At the board of education meeting on Monday, Chatham Board of Education president Jill Critchley Weber notified the public that Libby Hilsenrath had once again filed for an appeal, making it the fourth round of litigation that the school district has gone through.

The original lawsuit was dismissed in 2020, nearly four years after 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.

The decision was made in response to the 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."

However, on Oct. 16, U.S. District Judge Kevin McNulty once again dismissed Hilsenrath's complaint, noting that there was "no evidence of significant coercion."

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.

However, according to the court opinion, in his deposition, Hilsenrath's son testified that he did not remember much about this video and did not recall feeling coerced.

Members of the board previously performed research to establish how much the insurance-covered litigation is costing the school. Weber claims that the action has cost more than $2 million in legal fees.

Weber previously estimated that the district had spent between $80,000 and $90,000 on uninsured legal bills since 2018.

"The lawyers are making a ton of money off this and her law firm is doing this free of charge and they're out in Michigan, so they couldn't care less about the impact on the residents on Chatham, they are using it for publicity and they're going to keep going," Weber said. "The real losers are the residents and the students that are paying for it. It draws resources away from the district and despite having already lost previous rounds on summary judgment, meaning that it was so baseless that they could not even move on to a trial phase, Mrs. Hilsenrath is pursuing a fourth round of litigation," she added.

Hilsenrath has 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.