A Kansas teacher wins a major lawsuit after refusing to use proper pronouns, and for being forced to lie to students’ parents.
A teacher won a lawsuit against her school district, when they fired her for standing up for her religious rights.
From an ADF press release. In a victory for free speech at public schools, Fort Riley Middle School officials have agreed to pay $95,000 in damages and attorneys’ fees for violating a math teacher’s First Amendment rights when they reprimanded and suspended her for addressing a student by the student’s legal and enrolled name and forced her to conceal the student’s social transition from the student’s parents. Attorneys with Alliance Defending Freedom and Kriegshauser Ney Law Group represented Pamela Ricard in her lawsuit against school officials.
“No school district should ever force teachers to willfully deceive parents or engage in any speech that violates their deeply held religious beliefs,” said ADF Senior Counsel Tyson Langhofer, director of the ADF Center for Academic Freedom. “We’re pleased to settle this case favorably on behalf of Pam, and we hope that it will encourage school districts across the country to support the constitutionally protected freedom of teachers to teach and communicate honestly with both children and parents.”
When Pam Ricard stood up for herself, the school took immediate draconian actions.
Daily wire reports. Fort Riley Middle School reprimanded and suspended Ricard in 2021 for referring to a transgender student by their legal name and pronouns.
In May, the District of Kansas U.S. District Court allowed the case to proceed. As a result of the court’s ruling at the time, the school board voted to revoke the parental communication policy, according to the ADF.
“This case provides straightforward lessons for Kansas school boards: Schools shouldn’t lie to parents and teachers shouldn’t surrender their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse door,” said Joshua Ney, partner at Kriegshauser Ney Law Group and an attorney in the ADF Attorney Network.
“The Geary County School District unsuccessfully tried to convince a federal court that a teacher should completely avoid using a child’s name during a parent teacher conference in order to hide new names and genders being used by the school for a child in a classroom. Absurdity and deception has its limits, especially in federal court. I’m glad the case clarifies the financial stakes for school boards if they attempt to force teachers to lie to parents about their students,” Ney added.
As part of the settlement, school officials agreed to issue a statement that Ricard was in good standing when she retired in May.
More teachers need to stand up for their faith, if they did so then the Teacher Unions would have less power and America would win. The liberals are trying to remake America, and they are using our kids to do so.
