American First Legal (AFL), alongside two Montgomery County residents are suing the Montgomery County Public Schools Board of Education, Superintendent Monifa McKnight and six school system staff members, claiming that the groups violated their First Amendment rights and their rights under the Maryland Open Meetings Act.
The plaintiffs in the suit are county residents Matthew Foldi and Bethany Mandel. Foldi is a reporter for The Spectator, a United Kingdom-based magazine, and former candidate in the 2022 Republican primary in Maryland’s 6th Congressional District. Mandel is a political commentator and columnist for publications including Deseret News, Fox News, Newsweek and The New York Post.
The latest lawsuit alleges that the school board and MCPS Superintendent Monifa McKnight violated Foldi’s and Mandel’s rights under the First Amendment and the Maryland Open Meetings Act for “denying” them the ability to attend an open session board meeting in person on June 27.
It also claims that Mandel’s First Amendment rights were violated after she was blocked from the X, formerly Twitter, account of a staff affinity group, MCPS Staff P.R.I.D.E. (which stands for Practices, Resources, Insights, Development and Empowerment) Group.
“As a Montgomery [County] taxpayer, I was horrified to see the school board decide to close their doors to hundreds of parents who were begging to have their voices heard,” Mandel wrote in an email to MoCo360. “I spoke to many of those parents, and they told me they feel trapped in the public schools trying to indoctrinate their children.”
The first claim in the suit is related to MCPS’ move to incorporate LGBTQ+ inclusive story books into elementary English Language arts curriculum and its decision to not allow parents to opt-out their student from instruction. On the same day of the June 27 board meeting, MCPS parents and other county residents rallied outside of the school board building against the district’s no-opt-out policy.
“I’m thankful to be able to homeschool my own children and wish that these parents could get the kind of education they want for their own kids – an education we’re all paying for with our tax dollars,” Mandel said. “They deserve the right to say that to the school board. We shouldn’t have to sue MCPS to remind them of their legal obligation to hold open meetings for parents, students and taxpayers.”
MCPS spokesperson Chris Cram declined to comment on the lawsuit citing the pending litigation. In an email to MoCo360, he said it would be “inappropriate” to comment on active litigation.
In anticipation of a high turnout of people at the Carver Educational Services Center building, MCPS limited the public’s access to the meeting room allowing only “scheduled speakers and invited attendees” inside. An announcement was posted on June 26 on X stating that the temporary changes were safety measures.
MCPS’ community message also stated that the parking lot on the east side of the building was a designated area for large gatherings and reminded community members that the meetings could be viewed on the district’s website, on MCPS’ YouTube channel and on TV.
Open sessions of school board meetings are always livestreamed on MCPS’ YouTube channel and website. The June 27 board meeting can be viewed at this link.
MoCo360 reported that the board allowed five people from the rally and five pro-curriculum advocates to attend the meeting in person. The decision “sparked outrage from rallygoers, who tried to strong-arm their way into the building,” MoCo360 reported.
According to the complaint, the school board and McKnight “only allowed invited attendees and pre-selected speakers to physically attend the open session portion of the meeting.”
It alleges that this action was taken to “prevent what would be an overwhelming number of people opposed to [MCPS’] opt-out policy from assembling and expressing themselves in the meeting room, to avoid media coverage, and to mitigate the negative political impact of MCPS’ policy denying parents their opt-out rights.”
David Fishback, the regional leader of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) attended the June 27 rally. He said that the move to allow five more meeting attendees from both sides of the issue was “ill-advised” because of the ongoing tension at the rally.
Fishback said that the organizers of the pro-opt-out rally urged their supporters to step back from rushing the building and said the organizers “acted very responsibly.”
However, Fishback who is a retired attorney, said that the suit’s claim that the school district violated the Open Meetings Act and the plaintiff’s First Amendment rights is “simply incorrect.” He mentioned that the meeting was still available for the public to view online and said that the complaint makes the school district look as if it “were trying to keep people from knowing what was going on” – which he said is not true.
“It’s not unreasonable to conclude that this lawsuit was brought to intimidate MCPS and to run up its legal costs in an attempt to stop MCPS from operating the school system in a manner which is an anathema to right-wing extremists like America First Legal founder Stephen Miller,” Fishback said.
“This is precisely what America First Legal recently achieved in a school district outside Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, regarding the social and emotional learning curriculum,” he said referencing a recent settlement the AFL reached with West Shore School District in Pennsylvania.
Wael Elkoshairi, the director of Family Rights for Religious Freedom – a group made up of MCPS parents – said that the new lawsuit is just another battle for MCPS to work through as it grapples with another opt-out-related lawsuit.
“Again, another misstep by MCPS with regard to how they conduct their business and how they treat MCPS parents and how they treat county residents,” said Elkoshairi, a county resident, who was one of the main organizers of the June 27 rally.
“I mean, it’s the same way they have been acting since we have been voicing our opinion – which we have every right to do. And on June 27 it was just, you know, it was a standard operating procedure, just another way that they have tried to deflect and to ignore our concerns at MCPS,” he added.
Ian Prior, the senior advisor for AFL and one of the attorneys listed in the suit said in a press release, “The rights of citizens to take part in the democratic process is paramount to the American system of government. Montgomery County School Board members, administrators, and staffers have decided that those rights are subsidiary to their ability to advocate for inappropriate instruction for children.”
“That is because they know that active public participation will clearly demonstrate that the community does not support the radical agenda and actions that are being forced down the throats of parents,” Prior continued. “If Montgomery County Public Schools wants to ignore the will of their constituents, they cannot do so under the cloak of darkness and the evisceration of the Constitution and the Maryland Open Meetings Act.”
In an email to MoCo360, Prior said that the AFL did not have any further comment on the lawsuit at this time beyond what was in the press release.
The no-opt-out policy was first articulated in March when the district revised its policy on the use of inclusive books in schools. The revised policy said that teachers will not notify or send a letter home to families when inclusive books are read in the classroom.
In May, three MCPS families filed a lawsuit, Mahmoud v. McKnight, against the school board and McKnight alleging that the no-opt-out policy violates their constitutional right to religious expression and Maryland law. After filing the suit, Muslim, Orthodox and Christian families in the county protested the district’s decision outside school board headquarters. They have also continuously presented testimony at school board meetings urging the district to offer the opt-out accommodation.
Other parents, students and officials have expressed their support for MCPS’ approach to its inclusive curriculum. A petition of support for the policy garnered more than 3,000 signatures as of Aug. 1 from county residents, parents and faith leaders.
In November, Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown (D) – alongside 18 other U.S. Attorney Generals – filed an amicus brief in support of MCPS decision to incorporate the books and no opt-out policy. An oral argument for the case is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on Dec. 5 in Richmond, Virginia at the Lewis F. Powell Jr. United States Courthouse, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Foldi and Mandel sue six current and former MCPS staff members
The lawsuit’s second claim that Mandel’s rights under the First Amendment had been violated after she was blocked on X by the MCPS P.R.I.D.E. Group has brought six MCPS staff members into the picture.
The six staff members are:
- Elicia Eberhart-Bliss, an assistant principal at Quince Orchard High School in Gaithersburg
- Gwen Filipiak, an instructional specialist in the department of college and career readiness and districtwide programs
- Chris Knocke, an International Baccalaureate diploma program coordinator at Springbrook High School in Silver Spring
- Kristi Licare, a content specialist at Westland Middle School in Bethesda
- Shaun Sawko, a former wellness supervisor at MCPS, according to his LinkedIn profile
- Holly Van Puymbroeck, a supervisor of MCPS School Library Media Programs
According to the complaint the staff group is a “safe, affirming professional & social network for MCPS staff who identify as part of LGBTQIA+ community.” The purpose of the account is to disseminate resources and reminders for MCPS schools and offices, the account bio states.
Eberhart-Bliss, Filipiak, Knocke, Licare, Sawko and Puymbroeck did not respond to requests for comment.
The complaint states that in November 2022, Mandel used the X account to “share a different viewpoint and to criticize MCPS’ decision … to use LGBTQ-themed books as part of [its] curriculum and the decision not to allow parents to opt their children out of lessons involving those books.” The complaint continued and said that the six MCPS staff members blocked Mandel from following and interacting with the MCPD Pride group X account “in retaliation.”
Because she is blocked, Mandel cannot view, reply to and share the account’s posts with her commentary. According to the complaint, as of Nov. 13 Mandel is still blocked.
The suit alleges that the members of the MCPS Staff P.R.I.D.E. group “flagrantly” violated the school system’s own “Social Media Best Practices for Employees” policies. The complaint states that MCPS policy says that “MCPS employees posting to social media in a professional capacity should not block users or delete comments on their initiative.” It also claims that the MCPS Staff P.R.I.D.E. group “systemically discriminate based on viewpoint, as a custom, pattern, and practice.”
According to the complaint, the staff members are being sued in their individual and official capacities. The document states that the employees are part of MCPS Staff P.R.I.D.E. group leadership and “upon information and belief, at all relevant time, had control of the MCPS Staff P.R.I.D.E. group’s X account.
The lawsuit follows an extensive list of issues the school district has been grappling with since the start of the 2023-2024 school year such as active investigation by the Montgomery County Inspector General into the district’s mishandling of sexual misconduct allegations against a former principal. Additionally, the school system has been dealing with multiple incidents of antisemitic graffiti and serious school safety incidents.
