Everett, Washington is showing the rest of the country exactly what it looks like when a community stands up to LifeWise and its lawyers. 💥💪

This week, Everett Public Schools.WA families packed the school board meeting after LifeWise — backed by national legal groups First Liberty Institute and Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner — threatened to sue the district unless it watered down basic safeguards around released time religious instruction.

Here’s what matters:
• Everett Public Schools already had clear procedures in place before LifeWise ever opened near Emerson Elementary.
• LifeWise agreed to those rules in 2024.
• Now that those rules are inconvenient, LifeWise and its legal team are trying to rebrand them as “draconian” and “animus toward religion.”

Everett parents, educators, and faith leaders weren’t having it. When one parent told the board, “you write the rules,” nearly the entire room stood to show support for the district’s boundaries and for keeping school as a safe, respectful learning environment for all students — including those who don’t leave for Bible class.

We also want to thank Director Charles Adkins for saying the quiet part out loud. He made it clear he holds animus toward LifeWise’s agenda, not toward religion itself — calling LifeWise “an organization of homophobic bullies” tied to Project 2025 and The Heritage Foundation’s broader effort to tear down the wall between church and state and roll back protections for LGBTQ+ students. That is an honest description of the ideology behind LifeWise’s own published “worldview statement,” and families deserve to know it.

The article also mentioned our organization Secular Education Association (SEA-based in Ohio and working nationally). Earlier this fall, we wrote to the Everett board to say what we’ll repeat here publicly:

👉 Districts across the country are watching what Everett does next.
👉 The rules LifeWise is attacking are longstanding district procedures that protect students, not “new punishments” cooked up to target religion.
👉 Everett has every legal and ethical reason to ask whether continuing to host released time religious instruction is really in the district’s best interest.

(Hint- it absolutely isn’t in anyone’s best interest EXCEPT Lifewises)

To the families, educators, and community members in Everett who showed up: thank you. You are not alone. Communities in dozens of states are facing the same pressure campaign from LifeWise and similar programs — and your courage gives them a roadmap. 🩷

If you’re in a district wrestling with LifeWise or any released time program and you want help understanding your options, Secular Education Association is here to support you. Public schools belong to all of us, and the wall between church and state is worth defending. 🧱📚✊

— Secular Education Association (SEA)

https://www.heraldnet.com/news/parents-back-everett-district-after-lifewise-lawsuit-threat/e

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