A Muslim outreach booth at Wylie High School led to policy violations, a viral video and heated debate at a Wylie ISD board meeting.
WYLIE, Texas — Tempers flared at a Wylie ISD school board meeting after a Muslim outreach group set up a lunchtime booth at Wylie High School for World Hijab Day.
The group, called Why Islam, visited the campus two weeks ago.
The controversy intensified after a video of a 15-year-old student describing the event went viral. The video was shared by Denton County Republican Party Chair Melinda Preston.
“It wasn’t expected, but I’m glad that people saw. They got to see what is happening,” Preston said.
The district says the visitors checked in through the front office, but a staff member did not verify required guest approval. Religious materials were made available to students, despite district policy prohibiting that.
“So when the student came to me about what happened, he is a part of a Christian organization, and he knows that they’re not allowed to do that,” Preston said.
The staff member involved has been placed on leave, and the superintendent says the district is reviewing its procedures.
Mustafaa Carroll, interim executive director of the Texas Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the event was intended to be educational but acknowledged organizers did not follow the rules.
“I think that it’s easy to be misinterpreted as something else, especially in the climate that we’re in, people think that the Muslims are trying to take over and they’re going to bring Sharia law,” Carroll said.
“Whenever you’re pushing a certain religion, I think that that is, it’s where the alarm goes off,” Preston said.