The Constitution Protects Teachers and Other Educators, Too

When parents send their children to school, they trust the teachers, coaches, counselors, and other educators who play an important role in their children’s lives. Every educator holds that trust as they shape the hearts and minds in their classroom.

These educators are not mere instruments of the schools that employ them. They have a responsibility to parents. And they have their own faiths, convictions, and freedoms—rights the Constitution protects inside the schoolhouse gate, not just beyond it.

Increasingly, though, those freedoms are under pressure. Some schools have adopted policies that dictate what educators must say or silence what they believe. And sometimes, school policies will force educators to lie to parents or hide information about their children—pitting those educators against the parents who trusted them with their children’s care.

Educators should not be forced to choose between their conscience and their career. Everyone has the God-given right to live and speak the truth, especially at school. That right protects educators, parents, and their children alike.

What rights do educators have?

Like the students they teach and lead, educators do not leave their constitutional freedoms at the schoolhouse gate. “Educators” covers a wide range of public school employees: teachers, coaches, counselors, social workers, administrators, and more. No matter their role, they don’t forfeit their constitutional freedoms when they take a job at a public school.

Educators should not have to surrender their rights as a condition of keeping their jobs. A teacher, for example, should not be punished for expressing concern over curriculum or a school policy that could harm a child’s education or well-being—or risk driving a wedge between parent and teacher or parent and child.

Teachers have constitutionally protected rights

Of all the educators, teachers typically spend the greatest amount of time with students. Whether teaching a student to read, solve an equation, or work together with peers, teachers help equip children with knowledge and life skills. So when teachers’ rights are violated—in some cases to the point of termination—that also deprives the community of qualified, caring educators who play a crucial role in supporting parents as they raise the next generation

Nevertheless, that hasn’t stopped certain schools from violating teachers’ rights anyway.

Pressured to lie to parents

In Virginia, Deb Figliola taught Special Education and English to middle schoolers who were reading and writing below grade level. The school district introduced a policy requiring staff to use “preferred” names and biologically inaccurate pronouns for students and even required teachers to withhold that information from parents.

“Right away, I knew I’m being asked to lie, and I’m not going to lie about something as important as who you are to a child, and I’m not going to lie to parents,” Deb said.

Parents should be involved in their children’s education, and teachers are a key piece to ensuring parental involvement. As Deb explained, “We tell parents when a kid is failing. We tell parents when a kid is getting all A’s. We tell parents when a kid is on the team, when they’ve been thrown off the team. We tell parents when they’ve been bullied … or they’re bullying, or when they’re in depression, or when they’re doing great. We tell parents everything, and we’re always encouraged to contact parents. And now we’re being told never to tell parents about this one issue.”

Deb and two other teachers, with the help of Alliance Defending Freedom, sued to protect their free speech and religious freedom rights. The school board ultimately agreed to a favorable settlement, granting accommodations so that Deb and other teachers would not be forced to violate their religious beliefs, lie to parents, or use names and pronouns inconsistent with a student’s sex. The board also acknowledged that it did not support hiding or withholding information from parents.

Forced to resign for not wanting to lie to students

John Kluge taught orchestra and music theory in Indiana. Students in the orchestra won awards under his leadership.

The district introduced a policy that would require teachers to use names and pronouns inconsistent with a student’s sex. John wrote a letter explaining that this policy would be harmful to students by lying to them and would violate the beliefs of Christian students and teachers. The policy went into effect, and John requested an accommodation in which he could call every student by last name only, like a coach. The school agreed, and there were no issues for a whole semester. But then the principal claimed that the accommodation created “tension.” The district gave John an ultimatum: use inaccurate pronouns or resign. When John could not speak against his beliefs, the district forced him to resign.

John didn’t let it end there. He sued, and in August 2025, a federal appeals court ruled that the district would have to answer for its actions before a jury. The district then agreed to settle, pay $650,000 in damages and attorneys’ fees, and train senior staff on how federal law protects religious employees against discrimination.

Fired for what he couldn’t say

Peter Vlaming wasn’t fired for something he said but for something he didn’t say. He was fired because his school was trying to force him to use pronouns that didn’t align with reality, forcing him to violate his conscience.

Peter was a high school French teacher at West Point High School in Virginia. One of his female students, whom he had taught the previous year, began identifying as transgender and wanted to use a different name. Peter had no issue with this; the whole class used different names as part of French class. Peter referred to the student using the new name. He just refrained from using pronouns to refer to this student, as affirming the student as a boy would violate his conscience.

But that wasn’t enough for the school. The school demanded that he use male pronouns to refer to the student, even when the student wasn’t present. Peter could not do that because that would violate his beliefs about biological reality. His school then fired him.

Peter filed a lawsuit with the help of ADF. His case eventually reached the Virginia Supreme Court, which issued a ruling establishing strong precedent for teachers’ free speech and religious freedom. The school board settled the case after that, agreeing to clear the firing from his record and pay $575,000 in damages and attorneys’ fees.

Barred from subbing after standing up for her beliefs

Lindsey Barr was a substitute teacher in Georgia. When she learned about a book that would be read to every class in the school, she raised an objection to the office. The book in question had images of same-sex couples parenting and expecting children. She asked that her own children be excused from this lesson. Lindsey soon found herself locked out of the account in which she could see and accept assignments for substitute opportunities and was later told that she no longer had the ability to substitute at the school. All this because she spoke up against a book that went against her beliefs.

ADF filed a lawsuit on Lindsey’s behalf and secured a favorable settlement in which school officials agreed to reinstate Lindsey and pay damages and attorneys’ fees.

These teachers know what it costs when they aren’t allowed to live and work according to their beliefs. This harm reaches not only themselves but parents and students as well. When teachers are forced to lie to students about sex and gender and hide this from parents, everyone loses.

It’s not just teachers who have rights at school

Like teachers, other educators support students and parents in important ways, whether it be as a counselor, coach, or social worker, or in other positions. These school officials, too, have the right to live, speak, and work consistent with their faith and conscience. When these rights are violated, educators’ jobs and livelihoods are at risk, and families lose out on qualified educational support.

Fired for confirming information about a ‘Gender Support Plan’

Kathy McCord was an educator for decades in Indiana. When her school district instituted a new policy requiring employees to create and implement “Gender Support Plans” for students without parental involvement or consent, she objected. Such plans often require school staff to use different names and inaccurate pronouns to refer to students, and sometimes even behind parents’ backs. This went against Kathy’s religious beliefs and her desire to be truthful to parents.

A local journalist caught wind of the policy and asked Kathy to confirm the information he had gathered on it. All Kathy did was confirm the information that the journalist already found, but after the journalist published his article, her school found out about it and fired her.

Kathy filed a lawsuit with the help of ADF, and the school district ultimately settled the case, agreeing to pay nearly $200,000 in damages, attorneys’ fees, and costs. Shortly after the lawsuit was filed, a new state law took effect requiring the district to rescind its directive not to notify parents.

Fired for displaying books affirming only two genders

Rod Theis is a licensed clinical social worker in Oregon who, until recently, worked for the InterMountain Education Service District. He displayed books to decorate his office, just as many of his coworkers decorated their offices and classrooms. The book covers Rod chose to display were She is She, He is He, and Johnny the Walrus. For Rod, the display expressed his belief in the goodness of how humans are made male or female.

Other employees displayed a “pride” flag that included the colors that typically represent transgenderism, and a Black Lives Matter poster. But after a staff member complained only about Rod displaying these book covers. InterMountain accused him of a “bias incident” for promoting a “binary view of gender,” ordered him to remove the books, and warned that similar conduct could cost him his job.

In May 2025, he filed a lawsuit with the help of Alliance Defending Freedom. That August, a federal court partially halted the district’s censorship, ruling that Rod could display the books when the students he served weren’t present. But the district wasn’t finished. Days later, the employee who had first complained then coordinated a setup, encouraging students who had no reason to be in Rod’s office to barge in and read the books aloud while she recorded it. InterMountain used the recording as grounds to fire him, which it did in December 2025.

In July 2026, a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled against Rod, holding that his display fell outside the First Amendment because he was speaking as a government employee. But in a pointed dissent, Judge Lawrence VanDyke warned that the majority’s logic would let officials ban Rod’s books while waving through pride flags and Black Lives Matter posters—letting the government choose which views students may see.

Educators’ rights must be respected

Educators are an essential part of our world, and they have a profound relationship with parents and children alike. Our laws must ensure that they are free to speak, live, and work in accordance with their faith and conscience.

When educators’ rights are violated, everyone loses. Families lose educators who support children’s development academically, socially, and holistically. Educators lose their livelihoods—stripped of a job, salary, and opportunity to serve students and their families.

Schools should serve families by protecting their educators rather than promoting ideology over truth. The Constitution protects the right of educators to live and speak the truth, in and out of the classroom.