A federal judge on March 31 ruled against two teachers who challenged Springfield Public Schools' [SPS] mandatory anti-racist training.
Two educators in Springfield, Missouri, Brooke Henderson and Jennifer Lumley filed the first-in-the-nation lawsuit in August 2021 against a mandatory district-wide "anti-racism" training that occurred the prior year, alleging that the school district compelled their speech and acted out viewpoint discrimination.
Henderson and Lumley also alleged that district employees were required to complete the training or lose pay and that they were required to commit to equity and being "anti-racist educators" as a result of the training.
In the lawsuit, backed by the Southeastern Legal Foundation [SLF], the teachers claimed that the district discriminated against them because of their views that America should be colorblind.
SLF is a nonprofit that has filed numerous lawsuits involving school training, critical race theory, and COVID-19 policies.
The teachers have appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
"This is an effort by a lone agenda-driven federal judge to deny concerned teachers and parents the right to seek redress in court and to protect so-called ‘anti-racist’ training in Missouri’s public schools," SLF General Counsel Kim Hermann said.
"In nearly 50 years of bringing lawsuits under §1983 civil rights law, SLF has never faced attorney fees sanctions for challenging unconstitutional government action at any level. This unprecedented ruling is sure to close the courthouse doors to teachers and parents," SLF Litigation Director Braden Boucek added.
Federal district judge Douglas Harpool awarded $313,000 in attorney fees to the school district defendants, noting that the district should be compensated for the 1,538 hours that its attorneys spent defending the suit.
Harpool pushed back further against the two plaintiffs, claiming there were "political undertones" to the allegations flung by employees Lumley and Henderson and they "showed no injury-in-fact whatsoever."
Furthermore, Harpool wrote in the order that the plaintiffs "attempted to drag defendants into a political dispute rather than seek remedy for genuine harm."
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"Plaintiffs did not allege and no evidence suggested that defendants enacted any policy or guideline that required plaintiffs to adhere to a certain viewpoint or articulate a particular message. Crucially, plaintiffs made clear during the training that they did not agree with principles of equity and anti-racism. Plaintiffs' own allegations show they openly voiced their opposition to the principles taught and discussed," Harpool wrote in the order.
Harpool went on to say, "Plaintiffs were not fired or demoted for expressing their personal views during the training. Plaintiffs did not lose pay, nor did they experience any adverse or retaliatory employment action whatsoever."
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SPS spokesperson Stephen Hall said district officials were pleased that the court found the plaintiffs were frivolous and said the tax dollars spent defending against the lawsuit could have been better spent on students.
