An Obama-appointed federal judge has ordered two Missouri teachers, who opposed a school district's mandatory diversity training, to pay over $300,000 in legal fees.
The teachers had objected to the training that allegedly included content compelling them to put themselves on an "oppression matrix." As per the allegations, the material also called for socio-economic reforms and demanded teachers to divulge private information. Brooke Henderson was one of the two educators fighting against the mandatory training, which she said encouraged her to believe that the United States is systemically racist.
The training was reportedly district-wide, affecting a broad range of employees, including bus drivers, cafeteria workers, custodial crew members, and educators, among others. Federal district judge Douglas Harpool awarded $313,000 in attorney fees to the school district, considering the district deserved compensation for being forced to defend itself against the case.
However, Southeastern Legal Foundation General Counsel Kimberly Hermann, representing the plaintiffs, called the judge's decision "absolutely excessive" and intended to chill speech. Hermann argued that this was a First Amendment case wherein the clients were required to attest to and affirm certain ideas that they did not believe in, and were fighting for an America that should be colorblind.
"The point of it is to chill speech. This is a First Amendment case in the first place where our clients were required to attest and affirm to ideas they just simply don't believe in. They believe that America should be colorblind. They believe that they should not have to look at the color of the student's skin, and that's all that they were fighting for Hermannl explained.
The plaintiffs had only sought $1 in damages and were singularly focused on getting a judge to rule the training unconstitutional. Nevertheless, the ruling has discouraged parents or teachers from bringing a lawsuit in the future.
According to Henderson, the training violated her constitutional rights by forcing her to comply with training content and stifling her own opinion in the process. She added that the training compelled her to categorize herself on the "oppression matrix," and as a white woman, she unreservedly fell into the "racist" category.
After completing the training, Henderson said she feels "very blessed" to still have her job despite the experience. She, along with fellow educator Jennifer Lumley, has appealed the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
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