Brevard Public Schools has agreed to a $568,000 settlement with Moms for Liberty following a four-year-long legal battle.
The lawsuit in the case accused board members of stifling then-members of Brevard's Moms for Liberty chapter's First Amendment rights. The legal challenge was filed in November 2021 amid contentious school board meetings regarding various issues, such as masking and guidance on allowing LGBTQ students to go by their preferred names and pronouns.
Moms for Liberty Wins $568,000 Settlement
At the time, the school board passed a policy to shorten public comment time, which was an effort to cut hours-long meetings down. They told public commenters to direct their comments at the board chair or board members as a whole rather than referring to each one by name.
However, the plaintiffs said that this was something that the school board used to stifle criticism against them. The draft settlement agreement is set to be approved at the Oct. 7 school board meeting, according to Florida Today.
The Institute for Free Speech, which is an organization that focuses on cases that involve First Amendment rights, is the one representing Moms for Liberty. Neither the Institute for Free Speech nor the Brevard Public Schools responded to requests for comments regarding the development.
The agreement means that the Brevard Public Schools will pay a total of $567,990.19, with only $26,180 going to David Osborne at Goldstein Law Partners. The rest will be going to the Institute for Free Speech. The payments are required to be paid within 60 days of the effective date of the agreement.
Following the settlement agreement, a former Brevard school board member, Amy Kneessy, who is one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, expressed relief in knowing that the legal battle was finally coming to an end, Yahoo News reported.
Uneven Enforcement of Guidelines
She said that every parent who has ever felt that they were silenced or intimidated during a public meeting should know that they have rights. She urged them to use their voices and hold elected officials accountable.
The lawsuit that Moms for Liberty filed alleged that the school board's new guidelines were enforced unevenly, and let through compliments for school board members but shut down dissent or negative statements.
An Orlando federal judge issued a temporary restraining order earlier this year, which came after a ruling from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. They deemed the policy's prohibition on abusive speech unconstitutional and viewpoint-based, as per the Sebastian Daily.
