Courts Rules SCSD#2 Violated First Amendment Rights By Restricting And Removing Parent

A judge has sided with a Sheridan County man saying that the Sheridan County School District 2 Board of Trustees violated his first amendment rights and committed viewpoint discrimination, when the former Chairman of the Board stopped a meeting and had him removed.

This past Friday (October 25th), Wyoming US District Court Judge Alan Johnson granted summary judgment in favor of Harry Pollak, who argued that in February 2022, the Board censored his criticism of a school official during a public meeting.

In its ruling, the court said the public-comment period of the Sheridan County School District No. 2 Board meeting is a limited public forum and in those types of forums, the government may impose restrictions, as long as they are “reasonable in light of the purpose served by the forum” and viewpoint neutral.

According to the Institute For Free Speech, Pollak attempted to address the Board to respond to statements made by the superintendent at a previous meeting.

However, the now former Board Chair Susan Wilson, cut him off, claiming that mentioning the superintendent violated the board’s rule against discussing “personnel matters.”

Wilson ordered Pollak to stop speaking, and called the police to escort him out of the building.

The Court ruled the District’s Personnel Policy is legal, but how it was enforced was not, because the Board prevented Pollak from speaking, but did not exclude other speakers who expressed different viewpoints

Pollak also filed a claim against the District’s offensive speech policy, but that claim was dismissed by the court, because he did not have standing to assert his claim.

Click here to read the summary judgement