Lakeville Area school district sued again over Black Lives Matter posters
A group of parents and taxpayers are suing the Lakeville Area school district in hopes of getting Black Lives Matter posters banned from the schools.
The plaintiffs include Kalynn Aaker, whose daughter Novalee, then 9, went viral in May 2021 when she rebuked the school board for displaying the posters in her school after saying such “political” messages weren’t allowed.
Joining Aaker as plaintiffs are Lakeville residents Bob and Cynthia Cajune, as well as others who filed anonymously.
Some of the same plaintiffs first sued in U.S. District Court in August 2021. Judge Ann Montgomery in January dismissed the case, finding that the plaintiffs lacked standing because Aaker’s daughter no longer attends Lakeville schools and because the residents don’t pay taxes directly to the school district but indirectly through the county and state.
In a similar lawsuit filed Wednesday, Aaker’s other children, who do still attend district schools, are listed among the plaintiffs.
According to the complaint, then-Superintendent Michael Baumann in September 2020 told teachers not to display Black Lives Matter posters in their classrooms and informed families that such posters violate the district’s policy against political endorsements.
The following spring, however, the district ordered a series of “inclusive” posters, two of which said “Black Lives Matter,” and distributed them to staff members upon request.
In an April 2021 report to the school board, administrators said the posters were intended to “support staff in creating school communities where students are respected, valued and welcome.”
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When local resident Bob Cajune asked that “All Lives Matter” or “Blue Lives Matter” posters also be displayed, equity director Lydia Linsoe responded that those slogans “were created specifically in opposition to Black Lives Matter” and “discount the struggle” faced by Black students and others in society, the complaint states.
The plaintiffs claim the district’s refusal to give equal space to those messages violated the First Amendment prohibition against viewpoint discrimination. They also say the district’s posters have created a “hostile education environment” for Aaker’s white children, in violation of the Civil Rights Act.
They’re asking the judge to order the district either to stop displaying “Black Lives Matter” posters or to give equal space to the plaintiffs’ viewpoint.
