A district judge in Texas agreed with a parent who claimed the school board and police had violated his rights by removing him from meetings and arresting him in 2021.
Because he exposed the wrongdoings of trustees and administrators, Jeremy Story, the father, was arrested. In a verdict issued on July 26, Judge David Alan Ezra sided with Story and affirmed several of his claims against the Round Rock school system, the superintendent, five trustees on the school board, and police officers.
The court stated that the school board violated Story’s First Amendment right to free speech, the police violated his Fourth Amendment right to be free from arbitrary seizure and wrongful arrest, and the president of the school board violated Story’s 14th Amendment right to equal treatment of the law, all of which were denied by Ezra on motions to dismiss.
The court found that the school district had broken the Texas Open Meetings Act. On September 17, 2021, police arrested Story on a charge of disorderly behavior with the intent to obstruct legal process, which is a misdemeanor. The parent claims the school district’s actions were motivated by an attempt to suppress him, a charge that Weir has flatly rejected.
A Texas school board filed a complaint about Story’s arrest on September 4, 2021. After more than a year, the board decided to deny the claim. The public was not allowed to attend the school board meeting that was held on September 14, 2021, and instead, just 18 seats were made available. The Fourth Amendment was violated, and the Texas Open Meetings Act was broken when Story was hurt while being restrained.
The federal government has sought to portray parents as the issue and punish them as domestic terrorists; thu, Story’s case has national ramifications.
The father claims this case will expose how public school boards abuse parents’ rights by going too far.
