Connecticut teacher sues after being disciplined for criticizing 'identity, privilege' training

A Connecticut teacher is suing Hartford Public Schools for allegedly violating his First Amendment rights after he disagreed with an "Identity and Privilege" training.

John Grande claimed in a federal lawsuit that Hartford school officials "fabricated" evidence during a "witch hunt" investigation against him after he disagreed with the training. The Hartford Public Schools district implemented the training in 2020 titled "Identity and Privilege" via Zoom as mandatory professional development. 

Grande was a gym teacher for the school system for over 30 years.

"I was targeted for punishment by school district administrators because I refused to endorse their agenda to push critical race theory on teachers," said Grande, who is filing the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut.

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"They launched a witch hunt against me and ran a kangaroo court to convict me for exercising my free speech rights. They threatened my career to silence me, but with this lawsuit, I’m leveling the playing field and forcing school officials to answer for trampling my rights."

The "Identity & Privilege" training, Grande believes, was part of an effort to push critical race theory in the school system.

Per the lawsuit, the Privilege Presentation provided "examples of privilege" and used language that would prompt Grande, a "straight, white, Christian male," to mark "yes" in a section of his "identity wheel."

"Based on those prompts, Mr. Grande believed that the Privilege Presentation targeted a certain class of people, including him, and was an exercise in critical race theory, rather than one aimed at improving the education of students," the lawsuit stated.

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The lawsuit alleges that the school district attributed language to him that he refutes saying. The gym teacher faced accusations from fellow participants that he made statements about the training that were false as well as a survey response he alleges was altered to include language he had not attested to.

In October 2021, school board members conducted a pre-disciplinary hearing to discuss Grande’s statements. After deliberations in the hearing, the Board issued a disciplinary letter about Grande’s "inappropriate and unprofessional" conduct.

Grande who is represented by the Fairness Center, urged the court to rule that the Hartford Public Schools officials’ conduct was unconstitutional under the First Amendment and to rescind the disciplinary letter from his employee file. The physical education teacher also requested that the court "award him compensatory and punitive damages."

This came after the Connecticut State Board of Labor Relations ruled in Grande’s favor in August 2023 when he brought the issue to the Hartford Federation of Teachers (HFT). According to the CT Insider, the Hartford Federation of Teachers refused to hear Grande’s complaint about Hartford Public Schools because he was not a dues-paying member. 

He also claimed that the HFT supported the "Identity and Privilege" training.

The Board of Labor Relations declared that the HFT illegally discriminated against him based on his membership status. The decision enshrined all workers in Connecticut the right to fair representation.

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Hartford Public Schools did not immediately respond to a request for comment.