Federal appeals court revives Missouri case over mandatory DEI teacher training

A federal appeals court has revived a lawsuit brought by two school employees who claimed they were forced to take part in “racist and unconstitutional” diversity, equity, and inclusion training in a Missouri school district.

Two Springfield Public Schools employees, Brooke Henderson and Jennifer Lumley, kicked off the legal battle in 2021, claiming the district’s mandatory DEI training unconstitutionally forced them to profess controversial views against their beliefs. They lost in district court, when a judge dismissed the lawsuit and awarded the school district more than $300,000 in legal fees.

A panel for the Eighth Circuit appellate court initially reversed the legal fees but upheld the dismissal. In a revival of the lawsuit, the full appellate court ruled 6-5 on Dec. 30 to send the case back to the district court for further review. 

Southeastern Legal Foundation, which represents the school employees, has argued the DEI training violated freedom of speech by forcing the teachers to “affirm ideas including that America was built on systems of oppression and that colorblindness is a form of white supremacy.” 

“After years of fighting to be heard, we are thrilled that the Eighth Circuit ruled in our favor to allow our clients’ free speech challenge against mandatory anti-racism training to move forward,” Southeastern Legal Foundation President Kim Hermann said in a statement. “It’s appalling that a public school system was forcing educators to affirm ideas promoting racial division among its students and educators. These kinds of trainings have no place in our schools, and we are pleased the Court agreed that our clients suffered First Amendment injuries.”  

The Lion reached out to Springfield Public Schools for comment. 

The controversial training included telling the employees they must “lean into” discomfort and acknowledge their privileges to hold themselves accountable, court filings indicate, under threats of losing credit and facing consequences if they did not agree with and complete the training. 

“One of the trainers, Jimi Sode, a former coordinator in the school district’s office of equity and diversity, told Lumley that black people cannot be racist,” the appellate court noted in its filing. The training also insisted that calling the police on black people, “all lives matter,” and “white silence” are instances of covert white supremacy. 

Another slide displayed an “oppression matrix,” which classified white people, men, heterosexuals, able-bodied people, and Protestants among “privileged” social groups, while Asians, black people, transgender people, “working class, poor people,” Jews, Muslims and females were among “oppressed social groups.”  

“The plaintiffs have asserted that they have shown an objectively reasonable fear of negative consequences sufficient to demonstrate an injury in fact based on the trainers’ responses to their opposing views and the school district’s warning that if they did not complete the training, they would not receive the mandatory professional development credit,” the majority opinion for the Eighth Circuit court noted. “Because we find the plaintiffs have presented sufficient details and evidence to establish standing, we reverse the dismissal of their claims and remand to the district court.” 

The five dissenting judges expressed concern that siding with the employees could lead to an opening of the “floodgates” and endless litigation.  

“Public employee training will now be fraught with uncertainty,” they wrote. “An employer 

who trains on any subject from any point of view, while requiring employees to be professional, is subject to a federal lawsuit by an employee who disagrees with the training and keeps quiet. Only time will tell how the court elects to manage this new font of litigation.” 

Groups supporting the employees who sued, including the Goldwater Institute, have said the majority’s decision has far-reaching implications for DEI. 

“The decision is a major win for public school employees who for years now have been forced to sit silently through DEI lectures that assert that the ideal of colorblindness is racist, and that America is a fundamentally racist nation,” the Goldwater Institute’s Timothy Sandefur wrote, noting that the ruling “is an important signal that Americans are fed up with the reverse-racism that recently dominated cultural discourse.”