Brevard school board switches gears on public comment after new order by judge in lawsuit
An hour and a half before Tuesday's school board meeting, a federal judge in Orlando issued a temporary restraining order in support of a Moms for Liberty-led lawsuit, stopping Brevard's school board from continuing to implement their public comment policy.
In October, after a nearly four-year battle, the Eleventh Circuit court found that Brevard Public Schools' policy on public comment placed a prohibition on "abusive" speech and was "facially unconstitutional because it was view-point based and an 'undercover ban on offensive speech,'" according to Tuesday's order.
While Brevard Schools said the policy needed to be amended, the district didn't say whether or not the policy would be enforced in the meantime, according to the order. This led to Tuesday's order and a change in the evening meeting's structure.
“It’s unfortunate that today’s order was even necessary, as the Eleventh Circuit already made it clear that parents have a right to directly address concerns about school policies, staff, and curricula without fear of being silenced,” said Institute for Free Speech Senior Attorney Brett Nolan in a press release sent Tuesday afternoon, and who argued the motion in a hearing earlier during the day. “Today’s order ensures that parents can exercise that right at Tuesday's board meeting and beyond.”
Judge orders school board not to enforce 'unconstitutional prohibition' on comments
The order halting Brevard Schools' public comment policy, filed on Jan. 17 by the plaintiffs — former and current members of Brevard's chapter of Moms for Liberty — was granted Tuesday ahead of the school board meeting, with Judge Roy Dalton Jr. calling the school board's policy "unconstitutional.""A school board policy that chills a plaintiff's right to speak at future meetings and could prevent that speech altogether causes irreparable injury," he said. "Plaintiffs have shown that they are likely to suffer immediate and irreparable harm due to the potential for Defendants to continue enforcing the unconstitutional Policy at the scheduled board meeting tonight."