(The Center Square) — A group of New York school board members are suing Attorney General Letitia James and state education officials over a policy that threatens their removal for criticizing state protections for transgender students.
In the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court Tuesday by the Southeastern Legal Foundation, lawyers for the plaintiffs said the policy requires school boards in New York “to self-censor and shut down parent speech that advocates for their core values and for children’s privacy, safety, and opportunity.”
“If school board members and parents disagree with defendants’ viewpoint, they cannot speak,” they wrote in the 40-page complaint. “If they do speak, school board members risk being removed from their elected offices, and school board members and parents alike risk being publicly and falsely branded a bully and harasser of children.”
The foundation’s lawyers argue in the court filing that the policy violates the First Amendment rights of school board members and students and call on a federal judge to issue an injunction blocking the AG’s office from enforcing the restrictions.
The legal challenge was prompted by a “dear colleague” letter from James and Education Commissioner Betty Rosa to New York school boards and committees warning them not to allow harassment of LGBTQ+ students during public comment periods, including speech that “misgenders” their identities or dismisses their gender preferences.
“Unfortunately, some board members have made, and encouraged, comments during board meetings that demean and stigmatize LGBTQ+ students,” they wrote. “These comments have included attacks on school support for LGBTQ+ student groups and on transgender and gender-expansive students’ rights to use facilities, including restrooms and locker rooms, or participate on school athletic teams consistent with their gender identity — rights that remain firmly embedded in state law.”
The letter went on to warn school board members that violating those policies could end up in their removal from office.
But SLF President Kim Hermann said preventing students from speaking at school board meetings “about the stress and problematic policies around accommodating trans athletes are anti-American and anti-constitutional.”
“Letitia James’ policies that say school board members in New York can be removed from office just for using the biologically correct pronoun for a trans student are not only repressive but blatantly disregard the value of free speech for the citizens she represents,” he said in a statement.
The foundation filed the lawsuit on behalf of Kerry Wachter, president of the Massapequa school board; Danielle Ciampino, a member of the Rotterdam-Mohonasen Central School District board; and Sarah Rouse and Isaac Kuo, two parents in the Rockville Centre Union Free School District.
The Massapequa school district was thrust into the national debate over trans students in September after the board approved a policy requiring students to use restrooms and locker rooms that correspond with their biological sex. The New York Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit against the district seeking to block the policy.
