Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) recently reached a $125,000 settlement in a lawsuit filed by two county residents over alleged violations of the First Amendment, according to statements from MCPS and lawyers for the county residents.
The suit, filed by America First Legal (AFL), alleged that MCPS violated the rights of Matthew Foldi, a reporter for The Spectator, and conservative commentator Bethany Mandel, by preventing them from attending a 2023 county school board meeting in person, and by blocking them from accessing an LGBTQ+ MCPS staff affinity group social media page. In September, a federal judge dismissed two of the three allegations in the case, leaving the claim concerning access to the LGBTQ+ staff affinity group social media page.
According to a statement from AFL and MCPS, the district reached a $125,000 settlement for that final claim for the two plaintiffs.
“We are pleased that we were able to achieve this result for our clients and all those who have and will speak out and continue to hold Montgomery County Public Schools accountable,” Ian Prior, an America First Legal senior adviser, said in a June 25 statement.
AFL is a Washington, D.C.- based law firm that opposes “the radical left’s anti-jobs, anti-freedom, anti-faith, anti-borders, anti-police and anti-American crusade,” according to its website.
MCPS didn’t respond Thursday to emailed questions about any terms included in the settlement.
In a statement from AFL, Mandel said the settlement sent a message to MCPS.
“Citizens demand transparency and accountability, and a refusal to provide that to journalists and residents has consequences,” Mandel said. “It’s a shame that it came to this point, but it’s an important victory for common sense in our county.”
Foldi is a reporter for the United Kingdom-based magazine, The Spectator, who ran unsuccessfully in the 2022 Republican primary for Maryland’s 6th Congressional District. Mandel is a conservative political commentator and columnist for publications including Deseret News and Fox News who ran unsuccessfully in the May 2024 primary election for a nonpartisan school board seat representing District 4.
The suit filed by AFL alleged the school board and then-MCPS Superintendent Monifa McKnight violated the First Amendment rights of Foldi and Mandel and the Maryland Open Meetings Act by “denying” the pair the ability to attend a public meeting of the school board in June 2023.
It also claimed Mandel’s First Amendment rights were violated after she was blocked from a social media account of an MCPS staff affinity group, MCPS Staff P.R.I.D.E. Group. P.R.I.D.E. stands for practices, resources, insights, development and empowerment, according to the group.
The First Amendment claim was related to the school district’s move to incorporate LGBTQ+-inclusive books into its elementary English Language Arts curriculum and its decision to not allow parents to opt out their children from instruction. The same policy resulted in the U.S. Supreme Court hearing oral arguments in April on whether the lack of an opt-out options for MCPS parents violated their rights to free exercise of religion. The high court ruled Friday that MCPS must allow parents to opt out of books that include LGBTQ+ characters.
On June 27, 2023, several parents and county residents rallied outside the former school board headquarters on Hungerford Drive in Rockville in opposition to the no-opt-out policy before a scheduled board meeting.
Preparing for a high turnout at the Carver Educational Services Center, MCPS limited public access to the meeting room and would only allow “scheduled speakers and invited attendees” inside. The district said it was restricting access for safety reasons. MCPS designated an area in the parking lot for large gatherings and reminded community members that open school board meetings are available for online viewing through a live stream.
The board allowed five people from the rally and five pro-curriculum advocates to attend the meeting, a decision that sparked outrage from rallygoers who tried to strong-arm their way into the building.
In September, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis dismissed the part of the lawsuit concerning alleged violations of First Amendment rights and the Maryland Open Meetings Act in September related to the June 27, 2023, school board meeting. However, the court didn’t dismiss the suit’s remaining claim of First Amendment violations based on Mandel being blocked from the MCPS Staff P.R.I.D.E. social media account.
AFL said in its June 25 statement that Mandel was “blocked after she spoke out against MCPS’s decision to end parents’ rights to opt out their children from [LGBTQ+]-based curriculum.”
Xinis wrote that, based on the AFL complaint, blocking Mandel may have been a First Amendment violation because it’s possible the staff members denied her access based on the content of her speech. The decision cited court cases that have found that public officials violate free speech rights by blocking access to media accounts because of a person’s viewpoints.
According to the June 25 AFL statement, in addition to the $125,000 settlement, MCPS also required the staff P.R.I.D.E. Group social media page to no longer block Mandel.
“It has also amended its social media policy to explicitly prohibit viewpoint discrimination by MCPS employees, and it will require MCPS staff to certify compliance with all aspects of the policy,” the AFL statement said.
