A group of parents in Ohio have filed a federal lawsuit against their school board that accuses its members of suppressing their opposition to a new policy to arm teachers.
The suit argues that the school board for the The Madison Local School District in Butler County violated their right to free speech. The district is among at least 215 nationwide that have voted to arm school staff, including at least eight districts in Ohio.
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Since a school shooting in Parkland, Florida, left 17 dead, the idea of arming school teachers has emerged as one of the most divisive, but widely implemented, approaches to school safety, a VICE News investigation found. Many school boards, under renewed pressure to bolster security after Parkland, voted in favor of arming school staff in 2018.
In the Madison School District opinions on the issue run especially hot, given that Madison High School suffered its own school shooting in 2016. A 14-year-old student opened fire in the cafeteria and wounded four.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in a federal court in Cincinnati, alleges that the school board “engaged in a concerted campaign designed to chill and silence plaintiffs from further public criticism of its actions.” Lawyers representing the parents say that the board created arbitrary restrictions on public participation in meetings.
For example, two armed deputies stand on either side of Sandra Ison — whose child attends school in the district — whenever she speaks at board meetings, according to the complaint. Their presence “causes her to feel afraid that she will be physically confronted or required to leave should she attempt to express her point of view during the meetings.” Her husband, Billy Ison, said that the board threatens to remove him from the meeting whenever he says the words “pro-gun agenda.”
The lawsuit also accuses school board president David French of essentially doxxing Billy Ison by photographing his address and license plates and then posting his personal information on his Facebook page. (The complaint doesn’t specify what information he allegedly shared.)
Madison Superintendent Lisa Tuttle-Huff rejected the allegations and called them a “gross mischaracterization.” She added that there’s “nothing unlawful about the Madison Local School Board’s regulation of public participation at its meetings.”
“Throughout the process of deciding whether to authorize certain personnel to carry firearms on school property, the board has provided a forum for all viewpoints,” Tuttle-Huff wrote in a statement to local television station WCPO. “It is unfortunate that a small number of individuals feel compelled to resort to litigation.”
On Thursday, a judge in Butler County ruled on a separate challenge to the Madison School District concerning its arming teachers policy. Parents had challenged the policy by arguing that its mandatory 27-hour firearms training for teachers was insufficient. Lawyers for the parents in that case argued that teachers who carry guns at school should undergo more than 700 hours of firearms training, which is the standard for police officers. The judge concluded that 27 hours of training was sufficient and gave the school district the greenlight to move forward with arming its teachers.
Parents in the case decided Thursday were represented by Rachel Bloomekatz, a lawyer who serves as co-counsel with the litigation arm of Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun control advocacy group. Bloomekatz told the Journal-News, a local publication, that she hadn’t ruled out filing an appeal.
Ohio has been at the helm of the movement to arm teachers, in part because of FASTER Saves Lives, which provides firearms training for free and has been training teachers since 2012. FASTER, which was established after the shooting at the Sandy Hook elementary school in Connecticut, has even been successful in securing state funding to train teachers.
Cover: FASTER Colorado instructor Quinn Cunningham watches a trainee fire her gun during a three-day firearms course offered to school teachers and administrators at Flatrock Training Center in Commerce City, Colorado on June 26, 2018. (Photo by Jason Connolly / AFP) (Photo credit should read JASON CONNOLLY/AFP/Getty Images)
