Eight months ago, members of the Randolph Vermont Girls Volleyball team made a shot heard ’round the world. They got themselves kicked out of their locker room after objecting to a biological boy in their midst.
Make note that in this story, the transgender student made “an inappropriate comment” while the girls were changing. I think many girls are now concerned that boys will use these policies to access the girl’s locker room for nefarious reasons. Did the school administrators allow the sexual harassment of girls in an area that should be their “safe space?”
Accusations of harassment followed from both sides. Several girls were blocked from using their locker room, and the world learned about Randolph, Vermont.
Not long after, Travis Allen, the father of a daughter who complained, was fired from his coaching job at the Randolph Middle School for defending her. That, too, made the news, and the Allens eventually decided to sue.
Eight months later, the School hasn’t changed its gender-bending policies, but it did have to bend over backward and longer punish students and teachers for exercising their first amendment rights.
That settlement requires that the Vermont School Boards Insurance Trust pay $125,000 to the Allen family.
Also under the settlement, the district will reinstate Travis Allen, the father, as middle school soccer coach and will scrub any records of discipline against Travis and his daughter Blake from school records.
The school also must remove any content posted online or on bulletin boards displaying “love and support” messages to the trans-identifying student.
Note the distinction. The question is whether students and parents can express their opinion without fear of retribution or for the District – a government body – to engage in viewpoint discrimination. The School gave in, but this was not settled in court.
The District denies it did anything wrong, nor must it acknowledge wrongdoing. Still, the settlement affirms that the District accepts some error by rehiring the coach and scrubbing those infamous permanent school records.
Travis may want to keep his resume fresh with an eye toward working at a private or charter school (Mid Vermont Christian School comes to mind). Something tells me the Randolph School District will have it out for him.
This is Vermont, and the Rainbow Stasi doesn’t give ground, nor have they, but this is a win for free speech and the rights of students and teachers to express their opinions.
Phil Sechler, senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom, called it a “resounding victory for freedom of speech.”
“No one should lose their job or get suspended from school for voicing their opinion or calling a male a male,” Sechler said.
And Travis said he feels satisfied with the outcome.
“This settlement was a huge victory for freedom of speech. Not just for Blake and me, but for anyone who wants to voice their opinion on important topics,” he said. “This has taken a toll on our family…. It showed us who will and won’t support us even if they do not agree with our values.”
I admit to being a bit disappointed at the settlement. While the court case would have been prohibitively expensive on both sides, getting a government school to admit to viewpoint discrimination is a conclusion worth the wait. The District’s lawyers must have been smart enough to realize this and took the insurance hit while things were manageable. And I’m sure Alliance Defending Freedom – who has shepherded numerous cases just like this to their conclusion, made that clear.
We’re glad to hear they persevered and won. Too many people are intimidated out of defending their rights, another lesson the Allens learned the hard way.
Note: The headline was changed after publication. After review, it was misleading and needed a good edit.