Loudoun County parents ask court to allow them to speak at school board meetings

ASHBURN, Va. (7News) – Loudoun County parents and community members have filed a preliminary injunction in federal court asking a judge to immediately allow parents and community members to speak at school board meetings to discuss safety concerns as a lawsuit against the Loudoun County School Board and Loudoun County School Board Chairwoman Melinda Mansfield. moves forward.

“The application of the school board’s policy is likely unconstitutional because defendants are all but admitting that they are discriminating on the basis of viewpoint in violation of the First Amendment. Moreover, this policy is likely unconstitutionally vague and violates the First Amendment,” the injunction request states. “Deprivation of freedom of speech is a classic form of irreparable harm. Plaintiffs wish to continue to discuss safety issues at Loudoun County School Board meetings and will suffer irreparable harm to their First Amendment rights if the requested injunction is not granted.”

RELATED |Loudoun parents sue school board for stopping public comments about student with MS-13 ties

The federal lawsuit alleges that the Loudoun County School Board and Mansfield School Board Chairman violated parents’ First Amendment rights by repeatedly interrupting parents at a school board meeting and ultimately ending public comment early.

This month, Loudoun County School Board Chairman Mansfield interrupted several parents and ultimately ended public discussion when parents raised concerns about a student who has ties to the MS-13 gang, threatened to kill the student and was arrested in another incident. for carrying a loaded handgun in front of school. The Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) student is also in the U.S. illegally, according to sources familiar with the situation.

Before the school board meeting, 7News exclusively reported that a Loudoun County student has ties to the MS-13 gang, is in the U.S. illegally, was arrested in Loudoun County last year for carrying a loaded weapon, and was arrested this year. He was placed at Loudoun Valley High School, sources said.

“Where is the protection and security for our children who are in school with other children who have been threatened, who have been arrested and who have returned to school, and my daughter is afraid to go to school with him,” one parent told the school board before of Mansfield interrupting a parent and asking her not to discuss personal information about a student during a public discussion.

“I did not provide any personal information,” the parent responded to Mansfield. “This kid has gone out of his way to show everyone who he is.”

“I’m sorry, what you’re saying right now is personal,” Mansfield said.

Mansfield interrupted a conversation with three other parents who had signed up to speak on the same topic.

SEE ALSO | Loudoun County Schools moves student believed to be associated with MS-13 to ‘alternative placement’

Ian Pryor is senior counsel for the law firm America First Legal, which represents some of the parents and community members who have brought their concerns to the Loudoun County School Board.

“These (parents) are people who are very interested in making sure that we not only have the best school system in the country, but a school system that is transparent and cares about school safety,” Pryor said. “And of course, one of our plaintiffs is the mother of a girl who was sexually assaulted in 2021, so she has a very personal understanding of what happens when a school operates in such a way that they transfer a student who may pose a threat to others ” Students. So, again, this is very concerning for the community, it has been this way for many years and unfortunately we see that the school board has not learned from the mistakes of the past.”

Two weeks ago, 7News was the first to report that LCPS had moved the student to an alternative location, according to the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office, but it was unclear where the alternative location was.

Pryor told 7News the Loudoun County School Board violated the First Amendment by interrupting speakers and ending public discussion earlier this month.

READ MORE | Loudoun parents raise safety concerns at meeting about student allegedly linked to MS-13

“They violated the First Amendment because they saw speech here from our clients and plaintiffs and said, ‘We don’t like this speech,’” Pryor said. “This is discrimination against viewpoints. So when you allow certain speech on certain topics that you like, and then you take the topics that you don’t like and say, “You can’t say we’re going to close public comments so you can’t keep talking.” This is discrimination from a point of view. Their (school board) job is to be transparent. Their job is to communicate with community members on issues of public concern, not to silence them because for some reason they don’t want to. hear it at a school board meeting.”

The day after the school board meeting, Superintendent Aaron Spence and Chairman Mansfield wrote in a press release that “LCPS will not support a forum where information about specific students is discussed publicly” and “Misinformation is on the rise, and school divisions like LCPS must be vigilant in actively combating it.”

“I would say that the evidence of viewpoint discrimination, as strong as it was as a result of what happened during the meeting, was only strengthened the next day when she came out and said it’s our job to fight misinformation,” Pryor said. “Well, that’s true. It is not the government’s job to combat disinformation. Fighting misinformation is not Melinda Mansfield’s job, and fighting misinformation is not the Loudoun County School Board’s job. I mean, you don’t have to understand constitutional law to understand this. The First Amendment makes clear that government is not the arbiter of truth.”

Several parents expressed concern that LCPS allowed a student to return to school earlier this school year.