Chicago Public Schools faces class-action lawsuit over religious practices kept secret from parents

Former Chicago Public Schools students have started a class-action lawsuit alleging they were forced to meditate and signed nondisclosure agreements agreeing not to tell parents, especially religious parents.

Chicago Public Schools is facing a class-action lawsuit from former students about allegedly being pressured into meditation and “Hindu practices” they were told to keep secret from parents.

Kayla Hudgins, a former CPS student, is one of the plaintiffs alleging her constitutional rights were violated. Hudgins said her teachers pressured her to participate in transcendental meditation as part of a “quiet time” curriculum. Hudgins on one occasion said she didn’t want to participate and was sent to the dean’s office.

After quiet time, students were pressured to sign nondisclosure agreements to not tell their parents when they got home from school. Students were told if they didn’t sign the agreement it would affect their grades.

“Additionally, I, like many of my classmates, signed a nondisclosure not to tell anyone, including our parents, about the program,” Hudgins said. “My classmates and I were particularly warned by a David Lynch Foundation representative not to tell our parents if our parents were ‘religious.’”

A federal judge on April 19 certified the case as a class-action lawsuit. The law firm handling the case, Mauck and Baker, in November 2023 won a $150,000 settlement for another student forced to participate in the program or face being booted from her high school basketball team.

The Chicago Teachers Union’s new list of demands would give teachers more authority to teach what they want, force beliefs on students and keep parents in the dark. CTU has also demanded teachers keep student pronouns a secret from parents.

CTU’s current contract ends June 30. They have a list of demands filling a 142-page document, ranging from social and environmental justice issues to raises averaging $51,000.