{"id":193953,"date":"2026-03-06T23:25:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T23:25:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/193953\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T23:25:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T23:25:13","slug":"ramadan-display-removed-from-houston-elementary-school-for-violating-religious-neutrality-policy-houston-public-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/193953\/","title":{"rendered":"Ramadan display removed from Houston elementary school for violating \u2018religious neutrality\u2019 policy \u2013 Houston Public Media"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\"Ramadan<\/a><\/p>\n

Courtesy of Casey Kaf Alghazal<\/p>\n

Pictured are Ramadan displays that appeared at Bunker Hill Elementary in Spring Branch ISD.<\/p>\n

A Ramadan display was removed from the entrance at Bunker Hill Elementary in Houston this week after district officials in Spring Branch ISD said it violated a “political and religious neutrality” policy.<\/p>\n

District spokesperson Melissa Wiland said in a statement to Houston Public Media that the school board adopted the policy in the summer of 2022, adding that when district officials became aware of a religious holiday display in one of their elementary schools, they directed campus leaders to remove it. Wiland said there are no other holiday displays up at the school.<\/p>\n

Linda Buchman, an associate superintendent for Spring Branch ISD (SBISD), added “the concern was raised by a parent who expressed concern the display did not align with the district’s neutrality policy.”<\/p>\n

Sign up for the Hello, Houston!<\/a> daily newsletter to get local reports like this delivered directly to your inbox.<\/p>\n

The decorations included crescent-shaped balloons and four banners with the phrase “Ramadan Mubarak,” which translates to “blessed Ramadan.” It was built a few days before the beginning of the Muslim holy month, which started Feb. 17, by the Parent Teacher Association’s cultural awareness committee at Bunker Hill, said committee chair Casey Kaf Alghazal, who is Muslim. <\/p>\n

Kaf Alghazal says the committee became formal at the end of last school year, after years of the PTA making small displays for a variety of holidays. She says she has organized decorations for other religious holidays this school year, including Hanukkah, Christmas and Easter. <\/p>\n

“We really were covering all of our bases,” Kaf Alghazal said. “We wanted all the kids to see themselves being acknowledged.”<\/p>\n

She said the Bunker Hill community has been supportive of the efforts, adding she was stunned when she heard the display was taken down. She does not blame Bunker Hill’s campus leaders.<\/p>\n

“[The district] is claiming that chocolate bunnies and Easter eggs don\u2019t count and Christmas trees don\u2019t count, but crescent moons and clouds are not allowed,” Kaf Alghazal said. “The timing of this is obviously suspect and, again, they didn\u2019t have an issue with the Lunar New Year. They didn\u2019t have an issue with Hanukkah. They have an issue with Ramadan.”<\/p>\n

RELATED: Young Muslims say GOP politicians\u2019 anti-Islam focus is at odds with the Texas they know<\/a><\/p>\n

Muslims have come under criticism from Texas’ top Republican leaders, including Gov. Greg Abbott, who last fall designated the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a national civil rights nonprofit, to be a “foreign terrorist<\/a>” organization, barring the group from purchasing land in the state. CAIR has disrupted the governor’s characterization and filed a lawsuit<\/a> against him.<\/p>\n

Anti-Islam rhetoric also was a theme of GOP campaigns<\/a> leading up to Tuesday’s primary elections. <\/p>\n

Conservative activists get involved <\/p>\n

At the end of last week, the Harris County chapter of Moms for Liberty posted about the Bunker Hill display on its Instagram page<\/a> to its 625 followers and complained about the religious nature of the decorations. Moms for Liberty is a national conservative activist group. <\/p>\n

“On Friday in Houston, it was \u2018Go Texan Day’…a day where kids across the city celebrate their TX Pride to kick off rodeo season. Parents are often invited to come to the school to watch their kids participate in square dancing and line dancing. Imagine walking into the school for \u2018Go Texan Day’, and this is the decor that greets you,” the social media caption read, alongside pictures of the display. <\/p>\n

\"Ramadan<\/a><\/p>\n

Courtesy of Casey Kaf Alghazal<\/p>\n

Pictured is a Ramadan display at Bunker Hill Elementary in Houston that was ordered to be removed this week by Spring Branch ISD officials.<\/p>\n

Denise Bell, the chair of the Moms for Liberty chapter in Harris County, said she received the photos of the Ramadan display from “two different sources” she said she believes are parents at the school. She says she did not pass the images on to the school district directly, nor did any district official reach out to her about the photos. <\/p>\n

Bell says she was concerned because the display at Bunker Hill promoted one specific religion. When asked why she was comfortable with Christmas trees or an Easter egg display in schools, both commonly associated with the Christian faith, Bell said the holidays had become “secularized.”<\/p>\n

“There are also secular symbols that are culturally relevant [like] bunnies, Easter eggs, things like that,” Bell said. “Those are not affiliated in any way, shape or form, with a religion. They\u2019re just cultural springtime symbols.”<\/p>\n

Kaf Alghazal said she understands the argument for separation of church and state, but that she doesn’t see it applied unilaterally.<\/p>\n

“My only issue with that argument is, if that\u2019s what you really mean, then you need to mean it,” Kaf Alghazal said. “And I\u2019ll also say that if you don\u2019t want Christmas trees and you don\u2019t want Easter bunnies and you don\u2019t want a kindergarten egg hunt, but that\u2019s never what happens. So it\u2019s like they don\u2019t really mean it that way. They\u2019re saying that, but that\u2019s not what they really mean, because their actions are saying something else.”<\/p>\n

Enforcing the district’s “political and religious neutrality” policy to remove the Ramadan display contrasts with board members’ recent actions to comply with Senate Bill 10, which was passed into law last summer and requires public schools in Texas to post the Ten Commandments from the King James Bible in classrooms.<\/p>\n

Ten Commandments displays remain<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, SBISD trustees voted to deny a request from a district parent to either remove the posters of the Ten Commandments from classrooms or include displays from other faiths. The district is under legal obligation to display the posters, but the law is being reviewed by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals<\/a> for its constitutionality.<\/p>\n

The American Civil Liberties Union and other civil rights groups filed a federal lawsuit<\/a> against several school districts in Texas\u2019 largest metropolitan areas, including Houston ISD, arguing the law violates religious freedom protections in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.<\/p>\n

In August, U.S. Judge Fred Biery in a district court in San Antonio ruled in the plaintiffs\u2019 favor and issued a preliminary injunction<\/a>, preventing those districts from hanging the posters while the case plays out. Biery wrote in his order that SB 10 “likely violates both the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses of the First Amendment.”<\/p>\n

RELATED: Conroe ISD to display Ten Commandments after initially pausing rollout in response to court ruling<\/a><\/p>\n

Spring Branch ISD is not named in the suit and is therefore still subject to complying with the state law.<\/p>\n

\"Spring<\/a><\/p>\n

Adam Zuvanich\/Houston Public Media<\/p>\n

Spring Branch ISD\u2019s Administrative Building.<\/p>\n

Emily Black Roth made the appeal to the school board Monday.<\/p>\n

“Separation of church and state matters. Upholding the constitution matters,” Black Roth said. “The legal situation is actively in conflict, so risk exists on both sides. If the posters must stay up, we need a path to inclusion.”<\/p>\n

Attorney Ellen Spalding, who represented the SBISD administration at the board hearing on Monday, said because the district was under legal obligation to comply with the law, it cannot remove the posters.<\/p>\n

“You say you can\u2019t do it, but you are the guardrails,” Black Roth said to the board. “This is the system and this is the process and if nobody stands up and says, \u2018We\u2019re not going to do that, then I feel like it\u2019s just taking the voice and the power away from the people in your district.’ “<\/p>\n

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