Attorneys for Pamela Ricard say the teacher’s First Amendment rights were violated when she was disciplined for refusing to use a student’s preferred name and pronouns.
A Kansas school district has agreed to pay $95,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a former teacher who refused to use a student’s preferred name and pronouns, according to her lawyers.
Pamela Ricard, a former math teacher at Fort Riley Middle School, sued the district in March, alleging she was reprimanded and suspended for three days in April 2021 for addressing a student by their “legal and enrolled last name” instead of their preferred one.
Attorneys for Ricard called the settlement with Geary County Schools “a victory for free speech at public schools.”
According to the lawsuit, a guidance counselor told Ricard that a student preferred a different first name than their registered one and a classmate said the student used “he/him” pronouns. The lawsuit said Ricard decided to use “Miss” and the student’s last name in order “to be respectful to the student without compromising” Ricard’s religious beliefs.
The lawsuit alleged the district did not have a formal policy regarding students’ preferred names and use of pronouns when Ricard was suspended. Instead, it alleged she was disciplined under “generic school district policies” regarding bullying by staff.
A week after Ricard returned from her suspension, staff received instructions mandating that teachers use students’ preferred names and pronouns or face discriminatory action, according to the suit. It said the school district rejected her request for a religious accommodation to the policy.
Religion has nothing to do with why this lawsuit was settled correctly.
It should be $95 Big and every last son of a bitch that had any part should own it.
I’m not going to use your preferred pronouns for the same reason I am not going to engage in conversation with a schizophrenics imaginary friends.
I will not bother myself to memorize all these pronouns. I use the word Idiot which in my opinion covers them all.
“There… Are… Only… Four… Lights!!!”
For f*ck sake. The whole pronoun thing is stupid as sh*t. It’s a weird form of narcissism and bullying. Glad to see a glimmer of common sense.
The liberal, asshole, commies will continue to bombard US with stupid, nonsensical, ignorant fuckery because it tends to keep some of US from focusing on the facts.
Love that wonky ‘precedent’ stuff (at least this time). Funny how, over time, the legal community manages to manipulate it. A weird religion.