VA court to consider parents’ request to halt school district’s indoctrinating policy

WHO: Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys

WHAT: Available for media interviews following hearing in C.I. v. Albemarle County School Board

WHEN: Friday, April 22, immediately following hearing, which begins at 10 a.m. EDT

WHERE: Albemarle County Courthouse, 501 E Jefferson St., Charlottesville; to schedule a media interview, contact ADF Media Relations Specialist Ellie Wittman at (202) 503-7984

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing a diverse group of parents and their children in a lawsuit against the Albemarle County School Board will be available for media interviews following a hearing at the Albemarle County Courthouse Friday. The hearing concerns the parents’ request that the court halt enforcement of the school board’s discriminatory policy and indoctrination of students in racially divisive ideology while the case moves forward. The court will also hear the school district’s request to dismiss the parents’ and students’ concerns by throwing out their lawsuit.

“Every student deserves to be treated equally regardless of their race, ethnicity, or religion—and every parent has the fundamental right to know what their kids are being taught and to express their concerns when school policies are promoting racial division and discriminating against students based on race,” said ADF Senior Counsel Kate Anderson, director of the ADF Center for Parental Rights. “Albemarle County schools are requiring students to embrace a radical ideology that mandates racism, directing students to treat each other differently based solely on race. We hope the court will put a stop to the school’s implementation and enforcement of its so-called ‘anti-racist’ policy, which only promotes racism and violates students’ civil rights.”

In 2019, the school board enacted a policy based in critical race theory, a radical ideology that requires students and teachers to view everything and everybody through the lens of race. The policy violates students’ civil rights by treating them differently based on race and by compelling them to affirm and support ideas contrary to their deeply held moral and religious beliefs. The school district goes so far as to declare that every core subject must include teaching through its new ideological lens that emphasizes racial and religious stereotypes. It then squelches debate on the issue by mislabeling any opinion not aligned with its radical ideology as “racist” and threatens to punish dissent based on its redefinition of “racism.”

ADF attorneys filed the lawsuit, C.I. v. Albemarle County School Board, in December 2021. ADF attorneys also represent a former assistant principal in another lawsuit challenging the school board’s mandatory “anti-racism” teacher training that also advocated for differential treatment based on race.

Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.

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