VT snowboard coach favorably settles after being fired for stating biological fact

BURLINGTON, Vt. – Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys reached a favorable settlement agreement with the Vermont Agency of Education, the Vermont Principals’ Association, and a Vermont school district after the district fired a high-school snowboarding coach for respectfully expressing his view that males are biologically different than females and that those differences generally give males an advantage in sports.

As part of the settlement in Bloch v. Bouchey, a case filed last July, state and school officials agreed to pay $75,000—nearly 17 times the coach’s annual salary—for terminating Coach David Bloch’s job after he expressed his views. Both the Agency of Education and school district admitted that Coach Bloch’s conversation did not violate the state-mandated Harassment, Hazing, and Bullying policy.

“All Americans should be able to express their beliefs without fear of government punishment,” said ADF Legal Counsel Mathew Hoffmann. “For more than a decade, Coach Bloch led the Woodstock Union snowboarding program to enormous success in terms of both athletic accomplishment and personal growth of the snowboarders. But the school district fired him because he simply expressed his views that males and females are biologically different and questioned the appropriateness of a teenage male competing against teenage females in an athletic competition. We’re pleased to favorably settle this case on behalf of Coach Bloch, and we’ll continue our work to ensure that the First Amendment protects all viewpoints, not just those favored by the government.”

Bloch is a practicing Roman Catholic who believes that, based on his faith and scientific evidence, there are only two sexes, male and female, and that they are determined by a person’s chromosomes.

In February 2023, two of his athletes began to discuss males competing against females. Bloch chimed in to acknowledge both sides of the issue and respectfully offer his opinion that, as a matter of biology, males and females have different DNA. The conversation was respectful among the students and Bloch and lasted no more than three minutes.

The following day, the superintendent of Windsor Central Supervisory Union summoned Bloch to her office and handed him a notice of “immediate termination” while admitting that the investigation into Bloch’s conversation was not complete. The notice accused Bloch of violating policies for “ma[king] reference to [a] student in a manner that questioned the legitimacy and appropriateness of [a] student competing on the girls’ team to members of the WUHS snowboard team.” The superintendent admitted that she never informed Coach Bloch of his right to present witnesses and evidence in his defense and never provided him a copy of the investigative report.

The ADF Center for Academic Freedom is dedicated to protecting First Amendment and related freedoms for students and faculty so that everyone can freely participate in the marketplace of ideas without fear of government censorship.

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