Teachers union files suit against mother who repeatedly requested information about curriculum
A teachers union filed suit against a Rhode Island mother in an effort to block compliance with her repeated public information requests about whether the school teaches critical race theory and anti-racism.
Nicole Solas, who began submitting requests in April to determine whether her kindergarten-aged daughter would be taught critical race theory lessons, was listed among defendants in a complaint filed by the National Education Association on Monday seeking a judge's ruling prohibiting the disclosure of the requested records.
The lawsuit argues that Solas's repeated requests — which numbered nearly 200 as of June 2, according to the complaint — involve materials that are not subject to Rhode Island's public records law.
The union also filed a motion seeking a restraining order and ultimately an injunction to prevent the local school district in which Solas submitted the requests from complying until such a judgment is made.
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Copies of Solas's requests, directed to Wakefield Elementary School Principal Coleen Smith, are included in the complaint. The requests ask for the curriculum of all grades at the school, as well as information about materials discussing race relations, Black Lives Matter, and transgenderism.
Among the records the union seeks to keep private are "digital copies of emails of [teacher] Amber Lambert for the month of March," along with emails of other teachers that Solas also requested. The disclosure of those materials "would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy," the complaint said.
The union also disclosed in the complaint that the South Kingstown School Committee, which is also a defendant in the case, provided nearly 6,500 pages of documents in compliance with the requests on July 13.
It was not immediately clear what those documents disclosed. The Washington Examiner reached out to the school committee and the NEA for further comment.
Solas slammed the lawsuit, accusing the NEA of harassing her in recent months ahead of the lawsuit.
"Teacher unions now target stay-at-home moms," she wrote on Twitter Friday.
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Solas's legal representation called the suit a "brazen and unprecedented act of intimidation" by the union.
“Nicole Solas is entitled to know what her daughter’s school is teaching in the classroom," said her attorney, Jon Riches, who is director of national litigation at the conservative Goldwater Institute. "She’s entitled to ask questions. And she does not deserve to face legal action just for asking questions any concerned parent would ask.”
The legal fight is the latest escalation between parents and public school officials, who are proving to be increasingly at odds over what is being taught in the classroom.
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Tags: News, Rhode Island, Public Schools, Teachers Unions, NEA, National Education Association, lawsuit, Critical Race Theory
Original Author: Jeremy Beaman
Original Location: Teachers union files suit against mother who repeatedly requested information about curriculum
