Linn-Mar settles with parent group over gender policy

MARION — The Linn-Mar school board this week approved an agreement to resolve a lawsuit challenging a policy that would have protected transgender and nonbinary students.

In settling, the district’s insurance company will pay the plaintiffs — a parent group named Parents Defending Education — $20,000, according to a news release from the district Tuesday. No district funds are being paid toward the settlement.

Parents Defending Education is an organization that includes “parents, students and other concerned citizens” with a mission to prevent the “politicization of K-12 education,” according to the lawsuit.

The group contended the Linn-Mar policy — passed in April 2022 and since rescinded — allowed children to make fundamentally important decisions about gender identity without parental involvement and to hide those decisions in school from their parents.

The district’s policy spelled out inclusive practices for transgender students, including giving students access to restrooms, locker rooms or changing areas that correspond with their gender identity.

“The board believes the time and resources of the district are better spent looking forward than continuing to defend a lawsuit about a policy that has not been in effect for nearly a year,” a statement from the school district said.

The policy was rescinded by the board in March 2023 over uncertainty about the issue in the Iowa Legislature. A bill — which passed and became law last year — prohibits a school district from knowingly giving “false or misleading information to a parent or guardian of their child’s gender identity or intention to transition” to a different gender than listed on the student’s birth certificate.

In 2022, a U.S. District judge denied Parents Defending Education a preliminary injunction — to temporarily ban enforcement — of the school district’s policy pending a civil trial last year. In her opinion, Eighth Circuit Judge Jane Kelly acknowledge the board adopted the policy to “ensure a safe, affirming and healthy school environment” for all students, and that the goal was “not only appropriately inclusive and well within the scope of the district’s educational mission … it is mandated by law.”

The group appealed, arguing the policy violates a right of parents to direct the care, custody and control of their children, according to the appeal.

Last year, the appeals court concluded the parents’ group was likely to succeed on its claim because the policy is “void for vagueness.” The district’s policy didn’t provide adequate notice of what school conduct is prohibited because it failed to define the term “respect.” Because it isn’t defined, the policy could cover any speech about gender identity that an administrator deems “disrespectful” of another’s gender identity.

In the suit, the parents group asserted the policy violated students’ First Amendment rights because it “punishes” students who express their beliefs about biological sex and “compels” them to uphold the beliefs of administrators and their classmates. The policy prohibits speech that doesn’t “respect a student’s gender identity and misgendering.”

In the news release Tuesday, the school board emphasized its commitment to supporting “all learners” and providing a “safe and affirming school environment for transgender, nonbinary and gender nonconforming students and their families within the parameters of the law.”

Final Settlement Agreement - PDE by The Gazette on Scribd

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