A Northern Virginia school district’s anti-discrimination program may actually violate the First Amendment, an appellate court ruled this week.
The court determined that Loudoun County Public Schools’ “Bias Incident Reporting System” may have a “chilling effect” on the speech of conservative students, who say their views on race and gender are controversial. They ruled that a 2021 lawsuit, filed by three parents only a year after the program was implemented, could now move forward.
“Allegations are sufficient to show that the bias reporting system caused the parents’ children to experience a non-speculative and objectively reasonable chilling effect on their speech,” the court said.
The parents also requested the district to disable an ambassador program which facilitates group conversations between select students and administrators about anonymous bias incidents at schools.
The district argued that the programs are intended to educate and inform students on how to reduce the number of bias incidents in their schools.
“They allege their children’s views plausibly fell within what Student Equity Ambassadors in presentations about the program defined as microaggressions,” the court decision reads. “And the parents allege that their children refrained from speaking on these issues because they feared that, if they did, fellow LCPS students would accuse them of bias.”
The judge said there was no evidence that students were disciplined or substantively harmed by the program, or that the program caused any further “self-censoring” than normal social pressures.
The ruling also states that the ambassador program can not be challenged, but arguments against the bias reporting system will be considered.
A Loudoun County schools spokesperson told The Washington Post that the bias reporting system has never been implemented due to the pending suit.
“(The Ambassador Program is) active and is open to all students who display a passion for equity, are willing to engage in conversations, will listen to learn, and will represent the voice of their peers,” the spokesperson said.
The lawsuit was filed during the peak of debates over the role of discussions of race and gender in schools. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) centered his campaign on the controversy and was elected in 2021, saying that schools should not discuss those topics.
The parents’ case was first dismissed in a lower court last year.