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Parents and First Amendment Prevail; Judge Rules Against Fairfax County School Board
Southern Atlantic and Southern Central States

Parents and First Amendment Prevail; Judge Rules Against Fairfax County School Board

Parents prevail against Fairfax County School Board's legal actions against them.

Callie Oettinger
Nov 16, 2021
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Special Education Action
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Parents and First Amendment Prevail; Judge Rules Against Fairfax County School Board
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Today, Debra Tisler and I prevailed in court when Judge Richard E. Gardiner ruled against Fairfax County School Board's (FCSB) legal actions against us. It was an extraordinary day for Freedom of Speech and First Amendment Rights—and for parents who dare to point out waste and noncompliance.

We had the honor of being represented by Timothy Sandefur of the Goldwater Institute and Ketan Bhirud of Troutman Pepper. It was extraordinary to witness the dedication and passion of these two lawyers.

While FCSB's lawyers made arguments that the court called "almost frivolous", Tim and Ketan stood up for Freedom of Speech and First Amendment Rights, and in turn for me and for Debra.

Prior Restraint & Waste of Funds

During today's hearing, Judge Gardiner stated that the school board's actions were "about as much a prior restraint as there ever could be." FCPS and the school board should have known this, yet instead they moved forward with legal actions that involved multiple $695/hour attorneys.

I'm not a lawyer, yet in a September 28, 2021 article, I wrote:

FCPS responded to us exercising our First Amendment Rights by 1) repeatedly sending someone to our homes who scared our families and damaged property and 2) threatening to take legal action if we didn’t a) return the documents, b) stop sharing the documents and/or information about the documents, and c) tell FCPS the individuals with whom we shared the documents. In my case, I was ordered to remove my article from this site and to remove online postings.

FCPS asking us to return records that were legally obtained is essentially an improper prior restraint under First Amendment law.

It is censorship.

We have something called First Amendment Rights in this country, so keeping quiet about information we viewed to be a problem wasn’t an option. Plus, Virginia has anti-SLAPP laws.

(Read: "Fairfax County Public Schools Threatens Legal Action Against Parents Who Exercised Their First Amendment Rights And Right To FOIA")

The result?

FCPS invested more money into a law firm to which it has a history of paying over $200,000 about every other week for a long period.

False Narratives

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