Deer Valley Unified School District is considering a policy establishing guidelines for a potential high school elective examining the Bible’s influence on Western culture while requiring the course to remain religiously neutral.
The DVUSD Governing Board reviewed the proposed policy during its meeting Tuesday night as part of a first reading of several proposed policy revisions. The religion policy would establish guidelines under which Deer Valley Unified high schools could offer an elective examining the Bible’s influence on Western culture, including its historical and literary significance.
“This policy establishes guidelines for teaching about religion,” Deputy Superintendent of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment Gayle Galligan told the Governing Board. “It allows religion to be studied as it relates to history, literature, art, music, culture and other areas of the curriculum. It reinforces that instruction must remain neutral and may not promote, endorse or discourage any religious belief or non-belief.”
