A North Texas school district says a breakdown in protocol allowed an outside Muslim outreach group to distribute Islamic literature to students at a public high school, prompting an internal investigation and staff discipline.
The issue surfaced after a student at Wylie East High School in the Dallas suburb of Wylie shared a video on social media alleging that Islamic materials — including a pamphlet promoting Sharia law — were distributed on campus.
“Today, there was an organization called Why Islam that had a huge table booth in front of our school,” said Marco Hunter-Lopez, president of the school’s Republican Student Club, in the video that quickly gained traction online.
Hunter-Lopez said representatives of the group distributed hijabs to female students across the campus, along with copies of the Quran and “pamphlets about Sharia law and other Islamic things” during the lunch period.
After speaking with four women staffing the table, Hunter-Lopez said he questioned why the group was allowed access to students. “We typically have colleges come out. We have our clubs …” he said. “We’ve never had a faith group, to my understanding.”
“From what I’ve seen, I’ve never seen churches or Bibles passed out. I can’t confirm that 100 percent, but I can say this was a big thing they wanted to push out today,” he added.
According to The Christian Post, the Why Islam website contains material critical of Christian doctrine, including statements asserting that Jesus is “not the Son of God” and a full section disputing New Testament teaching, which the site describes as “Pauline theology.”
The website also states that Why Islam is “wholly owned by Islamic Circle of North America.”
Wylie Independent School District spokeswoman April Cunningham told The Christian Post on Wednesday that “four women representing the organization Why Islam were present on campus” during a lunch period. After reviewing security footage, district officials estimated that about “50 students visited their table.”
Cunningham emphasized that the situation was “not about religion, politics, ideology, or any personal belief system.” Instead, she described it as a procedural lapse, saying there was a “failure to follow established procedures” and that “mistakes were made, and we take full responsibility.”
She also rejected claims that the group’s presence was intentional, saying it “was not part of a coordinated effort to promote a religious or political agenda.”
District officials have not yet determined how the group gained entry to the campus or who initially authorized their presence. Cunningham said the district opened an investigation Monday evening after administrators became aware of Hunter-Lopez’s video.
The appearance of the Why Islam representatives appears connected to World Hijab Day, which the school’s Muslim Student Association promoted in a Feb. 1 post on social media.
Because the visitors failed to secure the required approval to be on campus or distribute religious materials, the district placed a staff member on leave for granting unauthorized access to students, Cunningham said.
