#i'm really glad these aren't common and also wtf is up with my luck

[monstermoviedean]

okay so literally all of these are real examples I experienced (though they are from two different schools):

hsa = the high school i attended in the late 2000s/early 2010s

hsb = the high school i worked at in the late 2010s/early 2020s

both were in red areas in blue states

official school events held at a church: hsa used the church next door for ap testing and sat/act testing. hsb did staff professional development at the church all the administrators attended, and also hosted a clothing drive there.

a church held events at the school: hsb was used on the weekends as a church, and sometimes the church left literature behind in my friend's classroom.

a church sponsored/organized school activities: this one still makes me so unbelievably mad. a teacher/coworker at hsb partnered with their church and a missionary organization that packed meals for missionaries to hand out. the event was hosted on school property during school hours and students were allowed to skip class to volunteer to pack meals.

the school authorized/supported student groups for religious students: hsa had a christian athlete group and they prayed around the flagpole in front of the school every week

the school authorized/supported student groups centered on religious practice: hsb had a student bible study group sponsored by a teacher

an external religious organization lobbied for a book ban at my school: mormon parents lobbied hsa to ban grendel (because it mentioned a vagina). they were unsuccessful so all the mormon kids read frankenstein instead. and not a religious organization but hsb did have a book get banned because of one single solitary angry parent. the book was persepolis and dozens of copies sat gathering dust for years until the teachers gave up and donated them to a school in another district that was allowed to have them.

*student groups for religious students in this context means an organization/club/group specifically built to provide community for students of a certain religion. as an example, a club that specifically for christian athletes.

**student groups centered on religious practice in this context means an organization/group/club that is not only built for students of a certain religion, but includes religious instruction or activities. as an example, a bible study club or prayer club.

***looking for lobbying/attempted book bans here, regardless of success or not. these could be bans on books in curriculum, or removal of books from school or classroom libraries.

bonus points if you want to tell me in the tags if you're in a more red or more blue state, and what decade this happened in