ADF attorneys send letter to MD school board demanding end to unconstitutional lawfare

Frederick County Board of Education weaponizes Title IX investigation to silence political opposition to unconstitutional school policy

FREDERICK, Md. – Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys sent a letter Tuesday to the Frederick County Board of Education demanding that the board immediately cease its partisan Title IX investigation of Republican board member Colt Black in retaliation against his protected speech during a public board meeting. ADF attorneys wrote that the board’s weaponization of its Title IX policy for political reasons violates Black’s free speech rights by chilling his speech and discriminating against the viewpoint expressed in his comments.

During a public board meeting on Jan. 8, Black—speaking in his capacity as an elected board member—addressed his concerns to the community that Board Policy 443 violates the First Amendment by forcing students and school staff to participate in the social gender transition of students and requiring them to use pronouns and names that are inconsistent with a student’s sex. Pressured by a local Democrat committee, the board launched an effort to suppress his speech.

“Students, teachers, and school board members have the constitutionally protected freedom to express their beliefs. The First Amendment prohibits the weaponization of the law to silence one’s political opponents,” said ADF Senior Counsel Tyson Langhofer, director of the ADF Center for Academic Freedom. “Colt is a democratically elected member of the Board. He cares about the integrity of his school district and the quality of education students receive, and he rightly observed that Policy 443 contains serious constitutional violations. Rather than take his concerns seriously, the Board caved to political pressure to punish him for his beliefs. We are urging the board to end its vindictive Title IX investigation. As we’ve recently seen elsewhere, there is a high cost for school districts that punish officials for their beliefs.”

Black expressed that his “overarching concern is the constitutional implications of 443 and compelled speech that is pushed upon our staff and students here in Frederick County Public Schools.” Toward the end of his address, Black noted, “I'm not sitting here saying that you can't come to school and be who you are. You should be able to do that. But at the same time, people should not have to be forced to participate with their language.”

On Jan. 11, the Frederick County Democratic Central Committee issued a public statement labeling Black’s comments as “hate speech” and calling for members of the community to submit “FCPS Discrimination and Harassment form[s]” to complain to the board in an effort to silence him. The FCDCC declared that Black’s comments “ha[d] no place in the FCPS Board of Education mission.” The board caved to the pressure. On Jan. 15, FCPS’ chief legal counsel notified Black that the board had decided to investigate him because it had received complaints that his comments allegedly violated FCPS’ Title IX Nondiscrimination Policy.

ADF has achieved several legal victories on behalf of educators in school districts that adopted compelled speech policies that violated teachers’ consciences. Peter Vlaming and Vivian Geraghty, who lost their jobs because they couldn’t comply with forced pronoun policies, reached favorable settlements that included payouts of $575,000 and $450,000, respectively. Three Virginia teachers also reached a settlement with the Harrisonburg City School Board, which agreed to respect their constitutionally protected right to do their job in accordance with their religious beliefs.

• Pronunciation guide: Langhofer (LANG’-hoff-ur)

The ADF Center for Academic Freedom is dedicated to protecting First Amendment and related freedoms for students and faculty so that everyone can freely participate in the marketplace of ideas without fear of government censorship.

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