Schools Are NOT Churches. Is Your School Pushing Religion in the Classroom?

West Virginia lawmakers have passed SB 280, a bill that could blur the line between the church and our public-school classrooms.

The bill's defenders have publicly stated that it opens the door to teachers using intelligent design creationism as an example of a scientific theory on the origins of life. It's not entirely clear what the new law seeks to permit.

Fortunately, the U.S. Constitution is clear – the government is not allowed to push specific religious views in classrooms or anywhere else.

As a new school year begins, we urge parents/guardians and students to be extra vigilant. If a teacher is pushing religion in your classroom or your child's classroom, we want to hear from you. Use the form below to alert our legal team to the problem.

(ACLU-WV receives thousands of requests for assistance every year. We are a small staff and have a limited capacity to take on new cases and clients; as a result, there are many cases where someone has suffered real injustice, and yet we are not able to help. If we are not able to provide you with legal assistance, we will make every effort to contact you to acknowledge receipt of your request. If we are not able to assist you by taking legal action on your behalf, members of ACLU-WV still may be able to help investigate what happened, raise awareness, or include your experience in organizing efforts. We also use this data to track trending civil liberties concerns which helps us identify and target rising civil liberties challenges for advocacy, legal, or organizing actions.)

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First Name *

Last Name *

Email *

Street Address *

City *

State *

Zip *

Phone *

School you attend *

Religious affiliation (if any) *

Please tell us a little bit about what happened. *

Have you taken any actions on your own in response to the incident? *

If yes, what did you do?

In addition to speaking with our legal team, would you also like to speak with an investigative reporter who is working on a story about religion in the classroom?

Disclaimer and Notice

This Survey does not give legal advice, and you should not rely on it as legal advice. You should not rely on the information you get from this site and should speak with a lawyer to get advice on your specific situation. We also cannot promise that the information on this site is complete, accurate, or up-to-date.

This Survey is not a solicitation or an offer by the American Civil Liberties Union and its affiliates to represent you. We cannot promise you that the information you provide will lead to any specific action on the American Civil Liberties Union or its affiliates part. Once you complete the survey, the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia may not do anything—including contact you—about your situation.

If you fill out this Survey, you agree that the American Civil Liberties Union, the national ACLU or its affiliates, if identified as part of the Survey, or one of its coalition partners may use the information you give us, as long as we don’t include your name, address, email or phone number, for one or more of the following purposes: (1) legislative testimony, (2) litigation; (3) contacting a city, state or federal agency; or (4) telling your story to the public, including the media. If the American Civil Liberties Union, the national ACLU or its affiliates, or one of its coalition partners wants to identify you, we will contact you prior to doing so.

We will keep your name, address, telephone number and email confidential unless you give us permission to use it or unless we are ordered to turn it over by a court (although we will attempt to prevent any disclosure).

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