Credit: Souderton Area School District
Parents and students seek damages, policy changes after being barred from meetings over critical comments
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania has dismissed as moot a motion for a temporary restraining order asking the court to prohibit the Souderton Area School District from enforcing a ban on two parents and a former student from attending school board meetings.
The district issued the ban in October in retaliation for the individuals’ critical remarks toward school board members, modified the ban in November after the lawsuit was filed, and officially lifted the ban in March, said a Pennsylvania ACLU press release.
On September 26, 2024, following a public school board meeting where about 100 community members were unable to attend due to the size of the meeting room, demonstrators gathered near the front and rear entrances of the district’s administration building to voice their concerns to board members regarding lewd comments that Board Member Bill Formica posted on social media about then-Vice President Kamala Harris. The two parents, Patrick Kitt and Christopher Spigel, tried to engage board members as they left the building to voice their concerns.
School Board Member Kim Wheeler and her teenage daughter exited the building and immediately got into their car. After a police officer approached Kitt and Spigel, Wheeler got out of her car and spoke briefly to the officer. She then returned to her car and drove away.
Two weeks later, the district sent letters to Kitt, Spigel and Spigel’s teenage daughter falsely accusing them of getting close to Wheeler, yelling at her, and blocking her from exiting the parking lot. Surveillance video contradicts the district’s account. The letters threatened the three plaintiffs with arrest for trespassing if they entered school property and required them to provide advance notice and remain in their vehicles when they dropped off or picked up their children from school, said the release.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania and Ramsingh Legal argued that the ban was issued in retaliation for the plaintiffs’ peaceful exercise of their First Amendment free-speech rights and violated their First Amendment right to attend and speak at school board meetings.
The case continues on behalf of the three plaintiffs for damages from the property ban. An additional plaintiff, Souderton Area For All, is seeking an order prohibiting the school district from banning demonstrations on school property prior to school board meetings. Two other plaintiffs are seeking an order prohibiting the district from requiring members of the public to show identification to attend school board meetings, said the release.
The full legal filings can be read at aclupa.org/Souderton.
