Lavigne v. Great Salt Bay Community School Board
Description: School officials with the Great Salt Bay Community School Board withheld vital information from a mother about her child’s mental health and wellbeing.
ADF to 1st Circuit: Protect parents' right to direct upbringing of children
The following quote may be attributed to Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Kate Anderson, director of the ADF Center for Parental Rights, regarding a friend-of-the-court brief ADF attorneys filed Wednesday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit. The attorneys filed the brief in the case Lavigne v. Great Salt Bay Community School Board on behalf of Wisconsin mother Tammy Fournier, who filed a lawsuit—which she won—against a school district for violating her rights as a parent:
“Parents have a fundamental right and responsibility to direct their children’s upbringing, education, and healthcare. Great Salt Bay Community School Board administrators violated that right when they withheld vital information from a mother about her child. When schools keep important information secret, parents like Ms. Lavigne can’t decide what’s best for their child, including how best to address any mental health needs. The decision to intervene in a child’s mental health care, like Great Salt Bay did here, should never be made behind a parent’s back. In Ms. Lavigne’s case, the lower court failed to respect this nation’s long history and tradition supporting parents’ right to make decisions—and thus to be informed—about their children’s mental health and education. The state should not keep parents in the dark about their children’s wellbeing. We urge the First Circuit to reverse the lower court’s decision which would allow Ms. Lavigne to vindicate her constitutionally protected freedom to make the best decision for her child.”
Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.
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ABOUT Kate Anderson
Kate Anderson serves as senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, where she is the director of the Center for Parental Rights. In this role, she leads the team working to ensure schools respect the role of parents in directing the upbringing, education, and health care of their children. In 2023, Anderson, together with allied attorneys, successfully defended parents in Wisconsin, and her team is actively engaged in many other states and courts protecting the fundamental rights of parents. Anderson's work at ADF began in 2015, focusing on protecting the conscience rights of individuals being unjustly compelled to forfeit their beliefs under threat of government retaliation, heavy fines, or other punishment. Prior to joining ADF, Anderson was an associate attorney with Ellis, Li & McKinstry, PLLC, in Seattle, where she litigated both civil and criminal cases. She obtained her law degree magna cum laude in 2009 from Gonzaga University School of Law, where she served on the Gonzaga Law Review . She is admitted to the state bars of Arizona and Washington, the U.S. Supreme Court, and several federal district and appellate courts.