Missouri AG backs staffers who sued SPS over diversity training as they appeal ruling

Two employees who sued Springfield Public Schools over mandatory diversity training and lost — and then were ordered to pay nearly $313,000 of the district's legal fees — are gathering support from elected officials and others as they appeal the decisions of the federal judge.

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey led a coalition of 16 Republican state attorney generals in filing a 38-page "friend of the court" amicus brief in support of district employees Jennifer Lumley and Brooke Henderson.

In their August 2021 lawsuit, Lumley and Henderson argued the district violated employees' rights, forced them to disclose personal information, and pressured them to affirm the district's beliefs about "so-called racial equity" as part of mandatory training in 2020.

U.S. District Judge Douglas Harpool ruled this year that there were "political undertones" to the lawsuit, which he described as frivolous, and wrote the two employees "showed no injury-in-fact whatsoever." He ruled in favor of the district.

In the Monday brief, Bailey and the attorney generals argued that ruling should be overturned and the employees should not have to pay for the district legal fees. They alleged:

• The employees suffered cognizable injury when they were forced to choose between advocating for "certain political views" and losing pay and being "branded a racist";

• The district violated the First Amendment rights of school employees by pressuring them, during training, to express "favored" political views and not express "disfavored" political views;

• The financial penalty imposed by the court was erroneous and "threatens to chill" parents, teachers and school staff who want to exercise their rights.

More: ACLU, ADF file brief urging reversal of $300K award in Springfield Public Schools lawsuit

Of the 15 other attorney generals who signed the brief, six are from states that touch Missouri: Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Nebraska, and Tennessee.

The others were Georgia, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia.

In the brief, the AGs argued employers ought to be allowed to conduct employee trainings without "micromanaging" by the courts. However, they argued interference is needed when employers — in this case, a public school district — allegedly required employees to "adopt, affirm and advocate highly controversial viewpoints both in school and in all over aspects of their lives."

"To compel compliance, the school district threatened to dock pay and brand employees as bigots," the brief claims.

The AGs argued the district is part of a growing activist movement to reject the vision Martin Luther King, Jr. shared in his "I Have A Dream" speech in August 1963.

King said, among other things, that he hoped all children "will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

"As a result of the moving words of Dr. King and others like him, generations of Americans came to embrace the long-overdue conviction that nobody should be treated with disfavor because of ski color," the brief stated.

The brief argues that a philosophy — which goes by different labels such as critical race theory, antiracism and diversity, equity and inclusion — has gained steam in academia, Hollywood, the mainstream press, corporations and K-12 education.

The brief argues that such advocates teach that "certain individuals are, because of their skin color, inherently racist and thus inherently inferior."

The AGs argued "once-universal values are now deemed racist" by these advocates including "hard work," the "scientific method," planning for the future, "celebrating holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving" and even being polite.

In the brief, the AGs argued the judge should reverse his decision and find in favor of Lumley and Henderson and the two should not have to cover the district's legal fees.

Henderson and Lumley, both still employed by the district, are represented by attorneys with the Southeastern Legal Foundation, in Georgia. The nonprofit has filed numerous lawsuits involving school training, critical race theory, and COVID-19 policies.

In awarding the legal fees to the district, the judge wrote the following in late March: "Plaintiffs attempted to drag defendants into a political dispute rather than seek remedy for genuine harm. This court is a forum for litigation of genuine disputes of fact and law alone, rather than frivolous political disagreement."

District legal response coming

Stephen Hall, chief communications officer, said Tuesday that the district is aware of the appeal and the briefs that have been filed in support of the appeal.

Hall said the district has until mid-June to respond to the appeal. At that point, a window will be open for any "friend of the courts" briefs to be filed on behalf of the district.

"Our formal response is forthcoming," he said.

As of the judge's March ruling, attorneys working for the the district had been paid for more than 1,500 hours worth of work related to the federal lawsuit.

More: SPS wins $313K in attorney fees in 'frivolous' equity training lawsuit

Following Harpool's decision to require Lumley and Henderson to reimburse the district for $312,869 in legal fees, the district issued a statement.

“As noted in the decision, the court found that the plaintiff’s claims were ‘frivolous’. The ruling acknowledged the ‘significant time and tax dollars’ spent defending against the claims," Hall said following the March 31 ruling.

"We agree with the court’s opinion that this investment would have been better spent on students. The district’s response to this legal action, including the pursuit of appropriate reimbursement, represents a broader commitment to defending itself against baseless attacks.”

Last week, the ACLU of Missouri and the Americans for Prosperity Foundation, the Alliance Defending Freedom, Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, Defense of Freedom Institute for Policy Studies, and the Reason Foundation also filed an amicus brief in support of the appeals filed by Lumley and Henderson.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: MO AG backs SPS employees appealing ruling over diversity training