Virginia teacher says 'a lot' of staff disagreed, some quit over mandate to use students’ preferred pronouns

A Virginia-based teacher said a lot of other teachers disagreed yet were silent about Harrisonburg City Public Schools mandating that employees use students’ preferred pronouns.

"A lot of teachers didn't agree," Deborah Figliola, a teacher in the Harrisonburg district, told Fox News Digital. "There were definitely others."

Despite most teachers being silent about their disapproval of the mandate to use students’ preferred pronouns, Figliola as well as her colleagues Kristine Marsh and Laura Nelson banded together to speak up against the HCPS policy.

They won a lawsuit last week which forced the school district to refrain from mandating employees to use students’ preferred pronouns. The two sides reached an agreement when the school board granted the teachers religious accommodation. 

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In the settlement, the school board maintained that they do not require staff to ask for or use students' preferred names and pronouns and "[do] not support hiding or withholding information from parents." The board agreed to continue to inform staff about religious accommodations that are available.

The lawsuit, filed in June 2022, argued that teachers' rights, protected under the Commonwealth’s Free Speech Clause and the Virginia Religious Freedom Restoration Act, had been violated due to compelled speech.

The teachers had to undergo training to ensure they were compliant with the school board’s nondiscrimination policy, according to the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the law firm that represented the teachers. The training entailed requiring teachers to ask a student’s "preferred" name and pronouns and to always use them. 

The teachers said they were also expected to do so without notifying parents or seeking their consent. The Harrisonburg City Public Schools’ nondiscrimination policy threatened discipline against teachers and even "termination" for noncompliance.

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"A lot of us walked out of that day dazed," Figliola said.

"As I've told this story before, I went back to my classroom and I just wrote down a summary of what I had just heard, and I wrote, 'I can't lie.' I'm not going to lie to kids, and I'm not going to lie to parents," she said.

Figliola also told Fox News Digital that some teachers decided to quit because they did not want to work under the policy.

"They quit. Teachers did not want to work under this kind of a situation," she said.

Figliola is still teaching middle school English and special education at HCPS.

"I'm a co-teacher with another teacher. It's a very challenging position. I love it. I love what I do. I love what I get to do is what I like to tell people," she said.

"Right after the case was won last week, there was some shutdown of that friendliness from certain parties, but from some other parties, there was rejoicing… There's some negativity. But there are people who were very excited about this." 

This case came after ADF won a similar case involving a Virginia school board firing teacher, Peter Vlaming, for refusing to use a student’s preferred pronouns. An ADF attorney explained to Fox News Digital that the case had "seismic implications."

"It really did," ADF attorney Vincent Wagner told Fox News Digital.

"We filed what's called a motion for summary judgment a few months ago in this case, and it was largely focused on the application of Vlaming to [Figliola's] case."

"We said, your honor. We don't need to have a trial in this case because the Virginia Supreme Court has made clear what the outcome should be in its decision in Vlaming saying that Harrisonburg can't force them to lie to kids or to lie to parents, which is what the previous practices were."

The case Wagner referred to was the Virginia-based West Point School Board agreeing to pay a former high school teacher, Vlaming, $575,000 in damages and attorney’s fees after he refused to call a transgender student by their preferred pronouns.

The Harrisonburg City Public School Board said in a statement, "The Harrisonburg City School Division is pleased to see this litigation resolved. From the start, our focus has been to support all students and employees with dignity and respect. Before the litigation began, we were open to collaborating on accommodations for diverse needs, as evidenced by our correspondence with ADF in early 2022.

"Our commitment is reflected in School Board policies and actions, including the adoption of a formal religious accommodations policy (Policy 682) over a year ago and the implementation of training for employees this August. These efforts demonstrate our dedication to fostering a respectful and inclusive environment.

"This case concludes because the processes we have always encouraged—both informal and formal—proved effective. We are gratified by this resolution and wish it could have been accomplished without litigation."