Illinois teacher drops lawsuit against Christian mother after yearslong free speech battle
An Illinois mother who was sued after criticizing a teacher in her local school district secured a decisive legal victory this week, with a judge dismissing the case against her with prejudice and barring a teacher who brought the lawsuit from ever refiling her claims.
Helen Levinson, a Chicago-area parent of two children, spent nearly five years fighting defamation and invasion-of-privacy allegations after she sent a complaint letter to her school district raising concerns about an educator’s conduct at board meetings and on social media. The case ended abruptly last week as it entered the discovery phase, when the plaintiff, Lincolnwood Elementary School assistant principal Jasmine Sebaggala, moved to drop the lawsuit permanently rather than proceed.
For Levinson, a Christian Arab immigrant from Jordan and founder of Moms for Liberty‘s Cook County chapter, the outcome amounts to a full vindication and a signal to other parents that speaking out on school issues is protected activity.