Teacher axed for "Misgendering" student gets $575K settlement from school district that fired him

A teacher in Virginia who was fired for "misgendering" a biologically female student is set to receive a $575,000 settlement.

Peter Vlaming, who teaches French at West Point Public Schools (WPPS) in West Point, was originally fired in 2018 after referring to a female student as "she" while the latter was absent. The said student was reportedly exhibiting gender confusion and insisting that the pronouns "he/him" be used. The student requested a meeting with Vlaming when she heard of his actions.

The meeting did push through with Vlaming, the student and her parents in attendance. One of the student's parents urged him to "leave his principles and beliefs out of this" and just use male pronouns to refer to the girl.

The principal instructed Vlaming to "do whatever the parents ask," and the assistant principal sent him documents from the National Center for Transgender Equality concerning "pronoun usage." But the teacher couldn't bring himself to lie and was reported for misgendering a second time, prompting the parents of the gender-confused student to pull her out of his class.

For this, Vlaming was slapped with a one-month suspension while WPPS reviewed his conduct to determine whether it violated the school district's "harassment or retaliation" policy. WPPS Superintendent Laura Abel mandated Vlaming to use male pronouns for the student "regardless of location or context, even outside of school."

When Vlaming indicated he could not comply with such a request "in good conscience," the school board fired him in December 2018 for allegedly violating the WPPS non-discrimination policy. He sued WPPS and several of its officials in 2019, with the help of the pro-liberty legal group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF).

According to a September 2019 article by the College Fix, Vlaming's lawsuit accused the defendants of breach of contract and violations of various rights guaranteed by the Old Dominion's laws. He requested the court to order his reinstatement to the same position at the same or higher salary. Vlaming also sought an injunction against school officials punishing teachers for referring to students "based on their biological sex."

But instead of challenging the lawsuit, WPPS settled with the plaintiffs. According to an ADF press release, Vlaming's settlement with the school district consists of $575,000 in damages and lawyer's fees and the expungement of his December 2018 termination from his record. The school board also agreed to "change its policies to conform to the new Virginia education policies established by [Republican] Gov. Glenn Youngkin that respect fundamental free speech and parental rights."

"[Vlaming] wasn't fired for something he said," remarked Tyson Langhofer, director of the ADF's Center for Academic Freedom. "He was fired for something he couldn't say."

"[He] couldn't in good conscience speak messages that he knew were untrue, and no school board or government official can punish someone for that reason. The school board violated his First Amendment rights under the Virginia Constitution and commonwealth law," Langhofer added.

Jose Alberto Nino of Big League Politics pointed out that "schools in the U.S. are total cesspools of leftist degeneracy," with both students and teachers unable to exercise their free speech rights "out of fear of getting severely reprimanded." He continued: "The current education system in the U.S. is simply inadequate and must be completely overhauled."