John Kevin Wood was barred from his daughter’s high school in October 2014 after he complained about a World History lesson centered on Islam. Now that his daughter is nearing graduation, he is rushing to gain access once more to school property.
Wood is a Marine veteran who saw combat during Operation Desert Storm, where he lost two friends. He was also a firefighter during the September 11 attacks and helped quench the flames burning at the Pentagon.
When he learned that his daughter, then a high school junior, had to memorize the Five Pillars of Islam and the Muslim statement of faith, Wood felt that the Islam lesson was promoting ideas that attacked his family’s religion. The school principal responded that Wood’s daughter, identified only as C.W., would receive a zero on the assignment if she didn’t do it.
Here’s how Wood’s confrontation with school officials went, according to court documents:
Plaintiff John Kevin Wood, as a former U.S. Marine who witnessed friends and innocent civilians killed and brutalized in the name of Islam, strongly objected to his child being forced to either accept Defendants’ pro-Islam instruction, religious teaching, and indoctrination or receive a zero on these units of instruction.
Plaintiff John Kevin Wood informed Defendant Morris that C.W. would not be completing the assignments that promoted Islam and that he was dissatisfied with Defendants’ treatment of C.W. and refusal to provide C.W. with an alternative assignment.
Over the telephone, Plaintiff John Kevin Wood communicated to Defendant Morris that, if Defendants wished to retaliate against C.W. for her adherence to her Christian faith, he would pursue his complaints through lawyers and the media.
In response, the school filed a no-trespass order to keep Wood from physically entering school premises.
According to the order, Wood “made verbal threats against the school” when he complained about the Islam lesson. However, Wood said in his suit that he merely meant to bring the issue to “lawyers and the media.”
Wood is working to get the order rescinded in time for his daughter’s graduation.
“She’s in the final semester of her senior year, and as it stands right now, she’s going to have to go through that life experience without her dad there,” said Kate Oliveri, a lawyer representing the Woods.