Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) Senior Counsel Vincent Wagner made the following statement regarding a petition for appeal ADF attorneys filed Thursday with the Supreme Court of Virginia in Ibañez v. Albemarle County School Board after the Virginia Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of their case in February. The petition asks the Court to hear the case of a diverse group of parents and their children who are suing the Albemarle County School Board for implementing a discriminatory policy that creates a race-based hostile environment in local schools and violates students’ free-speech rights:
“All students have a right to equal treatment in the classroom, regardless of their race. Public schools hurt kids and infringe that right by imposing demeaning racial stereotypes on them in classroom activities like the Albemarle County School Board has done—and continues to do. The School Board also threatens to punish students who disagree with its radical viewpoint or who simply wish to remain silent instead of speaking the School Board’s message. The Virginia Constitution protects students from conduct like this. We hope the Supreme Court of Virginia agrees and takes this case to allow all students to learn in the best possible environment, free from discriminatory policies like this one.”
