Location: Idaho state, Boise area.
My son goes to an elementary here. We have been going back and forth with this school since first grade and he just entered grade 4.
My family is not christian, and while we respect various beliefs, we also want to be respected in not partaking.
In first grade my son's teacher was regularly talking about Jesus and god and even had the children participate in coloring biblical art during december. My son took home artwork of colored paged of Jesus in the manger and other christian-related art. I contacted the school out of concern both via email and phone and have been documenting all of this since then.
We were told the children were simply learning about customs and religions around winter, and we asked why the only one they were being exposed to was christian. We were told they also apparently addressed other ones in a textbook, but I did not see those and I checked the text myself. Then the principal called us and directly apologized and said it was a good 'learning experience' for that teacher. We moved on.
Second grade was fine, no issues really.
Third grade... very religious teacher. She was regularly talking about religion to the kids, and even tried to convince our son to take part in a bible camp thing her church was doing. She basically convinced him he was missing out on what normal kids do and he came home incredibly distraught. We called and sent emails about how incredibly unacceptable this was. I tried to directly speak with the teacher and she went on a whole tangent about how great her church was and how we should try it out. My family struggles a lot financially (I have spent the last 3 years dealing with cancer and it has drained us completely for finances) and she kept pushing that she was just suggesting it because they had resources. I declined repeatedly and told her to stop. This happened three different times before I escalated again to the principal.
Fourth grade has just started. This year I wanted to be more proactive, so we called and spoke with the principal again (and I have also sent follow-up emails because I want a good paper trail). I informed her that I want to ensure these issues do not continue, and also brought up that all of the previous year my son had kept getting forced to pledge to the flag (my family does not believe in pledges) and that I wanted clear confirmation this would not continue.
The principal told me she had educated the previous third grade teacher and went on a tangent about how that previous teacher only had the best intentions, then she told me that our child was indeed required to stand for the pledge. I told her this was illegal and could result in a lawsuit and she said "not in Idaho". I told her to look up the US supreme court case, and she said she knew the law.
Then she said there is a new law apparently in our state for "prayer and other things like meditation" that all children are legally required to do and that because it's a state law, if my child "felt the desire" to pray they would be required to allow it and so would I.
I am 100% fine with my son finding his own beliefs in life, I am not okay with indoctrination or being disrespected. And I feel the fact that we are so egregiously poor (we can barely afford to eat) is being used against us.
I tried the free legal advice thing for low-income people but I was told they don't handle stuff like this and mostly do civil issues, and nobody seems able to point me at any service. I am at wits end and need to know what to do. If I had the money for a lawyer I would just do that, but it seems very hard to find, especially in a state where much of the population is heavily religious and gives us the stink-eye because we are not part of that religion.