A Virginia school district has consented to restore a substitute teacher who was purportedly “blacklisted” due to her social media expressions of political and religious views.
Lindsey Rich, a recently recruited substitute teacher, was fired by Montgomery County Public Schools in Virginia when it was discovered that she had previously expressed her views on gender ideology in social media posts.
Rich finished the employment procedure in September 2024 and reported for her first substitute teaching job, according to Liberty Counsel, a non-profit legal organization. But a school human resources representative pulled her out of the building just two hours after she started her first task.
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After learning about the instructor’s protected social media posts, the district school board convened in secret session that same day and took the teacher off the authorized list.
“I was absolutely shocked when the school board violated its own policy by taking action in closed session to strike my name from the personnel list before coming out in open session to vote,” Rich stated to the Daily Signal.
Rich, a vocal conservative, lost his bid to serve on the Virginia school board. She informed the publication that she thought she was fired as a substitute because of her stance during her campaign for office, which was that God made people exclusively male and female and that biological men had no place in locker rooms, girls’ restrooms, or sports.
“I believe the school board members removed me [a substitute teacher] for the same reason many attacked me during my campaign,” she stated.
In a letter to the district, Liberty Counsel demanded that the instructor be included back to the roster of authorized replacement teachers.
The letter describes how teachers are protected when they comment on public issues in their private capacity by the First Amendment, Title VII, and Virginia law.
“While the government [in this case, MCPS] may generally speak its own message, it is required to meaningfully accommodate the religious free exercise rights of its employees who may hold sincere religious objections to the government’s message or policy proposals,” it says.
“As interpreted by the Supreme Court of Virginia,…[the teacher] has the right in her capacity as a citizen to freely speak and write regarding her religious views and political views as they are informed by her faith – and neither she nor any other teacher of [the school district] may be penalized for speech expressed in a private capacity – whether that speech takes place pre-employment, or during employment but in a private capacity,” the letter states.
The school district changed their mind and put her back in her job.
She was the sole substitute teacher fired by the school district for exercising her right to free speech outside of the classroom, according to Liberty Counsel.
“A teacher’s freedom to express their political and religious views is protected by the First Amendment. A potentially expensive error was fixed by the school district. According to Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver, “teachers have the right to privately express their conscience and religious beliefs without fear of retaliation from their employer.”
Last modified: February 4, 2025
