A lawsuit against the Brewer School Department was dismissed last week.
The lawsuit, filed in February, alleged a Brewer High School student was told a petition she circulated could be considered hate speech. It wanted to reverse the school’s policy that allows transgender students to use the bathroom and locker room that corresponds with their gender identity.
The student’s father, Phil Wells, filed the lawsuit on behalf of his high school student, identified as H.W. in court records. It named Brewer School Department Superintendent Gregg Palmer, Brewer High School Principal Brent Slowikowski and Michelle MacDonald, an English teacher at the school.
All sides agreed to the voluntary dismissal without prejudice Friday in U.S. District Court in Bangor.
The school will allow the petition to be circulated, according to a court filing from Wells.
The school’s position was simple, that the student belonged and had access to all their rights, Palmer said. The person who the petition targeted has since graduated and the district is no longer legally compelled to restrict a general position, he said.
“We’re concerned for each and every one of our students,” Palmer said. “That can create conflicting needs and responsibilities in a public school setting.”
The district has not seen a new petition since, but acknowledges students have the right to free speech, Palmer said.
“In all this we also believe in decency and everyone in our school department treating one another respectfully, especially when division exists,” Palmer said. “In the end that is the test of any civil society, and we continue to strive to be on the right side of people caring more about one another than the day’s unrest.”
A similar lawsuit against Brewer schools is still pending. It was originally filed by Shawn McBreairty and is being continued by his widow, Patricia McBreairty, following his June 3 death.
That lawsuit claims Brewer schools violated McBreairty’s First Amendment rights by alluding to taking legal action against the activist if he did not remove an online post about girls’ bathrooms not being safe if males are present. It included a picture, provided by an anonymous source, of a student in a Brewer school’s bathroom.