A Kansas teacher has been awarded $95,000 after suing the school district she worked at over her being suspended for refusing to use a student’s preferred name and pronouns.
Back in March, Pamela Ricard filed a lawsuit against Geary County Schools after she was reprimanded and suspended last year “for addressing a biologically female student by the student’s legal and enrolled last name,” Today reports.
The incident took place at Ricard’s former school, Fort Middle School. A school counselor later told Ricard that the student preferred another name and a student let Ricard know the student preferred “he/him” pronouns. Ricard then started calling the student by “miss” and then the student’s last name to allegedly avoid using their preferred first name. Ricard says she felt that she would respect the student’s preference while also respecting her own religious views.
Due to the school never having a “formal policy regarding student preferred name and pronoun use at the time Ms. Ricard was suspended” despite being reprimanded “under generic school district policies related to bullying by staff,” the settlement came back in her favor.
After her suspension, the school implemented a policy telling employees to be aware and make an effort to utilize the pronouns an individual requests to be identified by.”
However, Ricard said the policies “violated her conscience.”
“Ms. Ricard is a Christian and holds sincere religious beliefs consistent with the traditional Christian and biblical understanding of the human person and biological sex,” the lawsuit said, Today reports. “Ms. Ricard believes that God created human beings as either male or female, that this sex is fixed in each person from the moment of conception, and that it cannot be changed, regardless of an individual person’s feelings, desires, or preferences.”
A federal court ruled Ricard was “free to speak without violating her conscience by communicating with parents in a manner consistent with how she is required to address the students at school,” according to her lawyers, Today reports.
