K-12 IMPLOSION UPDATE: What are Loudoun County schools teaching your kids?
Tensions ran high at the Loudoun County School Board meeting on Tuesday evening, following a Virginia judge’s decision to reinstate an elementary school teacher suspended for refusing to call transgender students by their preferred pronouns.
Earlier, Circuit Judge James E. Plowman Jr ordered the school district to ‘immediately reinstate’ Tanner Cross as a physical education instructor at Leesburg Elementary School. Cross was suspended for speaking out at a board meeting in late May against a proposed policy that required teachers to use transgender students’ preferred pronouns and names.
On June 1, Cross filed a lawsuit against the district’s superintendent Scott A. Ziegler and Lucia Villa Sebastian, the assistant superintendent for human resources, claiming his First Amendment rights had been violated. The president of Alliance Defending Freedom — the conservative Christian nonprofit legal group representing Cross — celebrated the ruling as a win for free expression.
‘Nobody should be punished for expressing concern about a proposed government policy, especially when the government invites comment on that policy,’ said Michael Farris, the CEO of ADF. ‘For that reason, we are pleased at the court’s decision to halt Loudoun County Public Schools’ retaliation against Tanner Cross while his lawsuit continues.’
Following the court’s decision, supporters and opponents of Cross clashed outside the school board meeting on Tuesday night. Some parents held signs demanding the board ‘Protect Trans Kids’, while others fashioned shirts reading ‘Let Tanner Teach’.
The scene inside the meeting was even tenser as over 100 parents spoke at the public podium, primarily in support of Cross.