A Kansas school district has agreed to pay $95,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a teacher who ran afoul of policies requiring her to use a student’s preferred name and pronouns and conceal a student’s gender transition from parents.
Pamela Ricard, a now-retired Fort Riley Middle School math teacher, filed a motion Wednesday to dismiss her lawsuit against the Geary County Unified School District 475 in Junction City, Kansas, according to the Alliance Defending Freedom, which represents her.
Ms. Ricard, who retired in May, argued that addressing students by their preferred names and pronouns, but then using their legal name and pronouns with parents to avoid disclosing their gender transitions violated her Christian religious beliefs.
Alliance Senior Counsel Tyson Langhofer called the outcome a victory for free speech and religious freedom in public schools.
“No school district should ever force teachers to willfully deceive parents or engage in any speech that violates their deeply held religious beliefs,” said Mr. 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.”
The $95,000 settlement for damages and attorneys’ fees was reached after a federal judge in May granted Ms. Ricard’s request for a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of the district’s policy barring teachers from using students’ preferred names and pronouns with parents.
The school board voted to rescind the parental-communications policy a few weeks later.
U.S. District Court Judge Holly L. Teeter did not rule on the pronouns and preferred name policy because the district said that Ms. Ricard was no longer in violation, according to the May 9 order.
The settlement in Ms. Ricard’s favor comes with some parents and teachers pushing back against school policies requiring staff to use the preferred names and pronouns of students to support their gender transitions.
Ms. Ricard routinely referred to students by their last names in class but received a three-day paid suspension and formal written reprimand in April 2021 for referring to a biological female student who identified as male as “Miss [Last Name].” The teacher also sought to avoid using pronouns, the complaint said.
Will Rapp, statewide organizer for the Kansas chapter of GLSEN, told the Topeka Capital-Journal in May that “[a]ny effort to force teachers to out students to their guardians is a violation of young people’s privacy and can place vulnerable young people in harm’s way.”
The district also agreed to issue a statement saying that Ms. Ricard “was in good standing without any disciplinary actions against her at the time of her retirement in May,” said the alliance.
“This case provides straightforward lessons for Kansas school boards: Schools shouldn’t lie to parents and teachers don’t forfeit their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse door,” said Joshua Ney, partner at Kriegshauser Ney Law Group, part of 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,” Mr. Ney said. “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.”
A Geary County Schools spokesperson said the district has no comment on the matter.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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