District 209 teachers file First Amendment lawsuit

Four Proviso Township High School District 209 teachers filed a federal lawsuit on March 6 against the district and D209 Supt. James Henderson. The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division.

The plaintiffs include current Proviso West teacher Carissa Gillespie, Proviso West counselor Nicole O’Connor, former Proviso West teacher Jenny LaBash, and another former D209 female employee who asked that her identity be withheld.

In their lawsuit, the employees alleged that “since the end of a two-week strike by District 209 teachers in March 2022,” Supt. Henderson and other district officials “have unlawfully suspended, discharged, or threatened discharge of” the four plaintiffs for their “repeated public criticism of the” district’s “serious administrative failings.” 

Those “failings” include “serious classroom overcrowding, teacher shortages, lack of bus transportation for students, and financial mismanagement — all public concerns raised not only by Plaintiff teachers in these public meetings and town halls, but also parents, students, elected officials, and newspaper editorials.” 

When reached by email, Supt. Henderson declined to comment, explaining that the district “does not discuss matters of personnel.” 

In November 2022, Gillespie and O’Connor were among four veteran teachers of color whose jobs were up for termination after Supt. Henderson alleged they encouraged students to protest and create posters critical of the administration. Both the teachers and student leaders behind the demonstrations have repeatedly said the allegations are false. 

The school board eventually tabled the motion to fire Gillespie and O’Connor but Supt. Henderson suspended them both for 20 days “on the preposterous charge that, because of such speech and activity, the presence of the two Plaintiffs in the classroom was detrimental to the well-being of the students,” the lawsuit states. 

LaBash, who is white, was fired roughly a month after she gave heated comments at a Nov. 15 school board meeting that were critical of Supt. Henderson and Cedric Lewis, the district’s chief financial officer, both of whom are Black. LaBash criticized the district’s spending practices and some of the superintendent’s travel expenses. 

“My dad is from Gary, Ind., he’s deceased now […] he grew up in the projects, just where you got Cedric Lewis over here, who can’t seem to do math even though he’s your chief financial officer,” LaBash said. 

She also addressed the superintendent as “Jimmy” at various points during her comments, prompting D209 Board President Della Patterson, who is Black, to yell, “You’re not going to disrespect that Black man! […] You’re not going to disrespect that Black man! You’re not going to call him Jimmy, that is racist! It’s racist! It’s racist!” 

Patterson then demanded that LaBash be escorted out of the room, telling security guards and at least one uniformed police officer to “get her out of here!” The school board voted to fire LaBash on Dec. 13, “on the same false charge of speaking with racial intent and for disrupting the hearing that the [Board President Patterson] herself had thrown into chaos,” the lawsuit states. 

The four teachers, all of whom except LaBash are Black, argue in their lawsuit that LaBash’s treatment constitutes a pattern by Supt. Henderson and some school board members who allege racism whenever employees and community members criticize the school board and administration. 

The lawsuit claims that Supt. Henderson “also expressed anger with women teachers who were white, complaining of white teachers who had what he ambiguously describes as a ‘white agenda.’” 

LaBash, Gillespie, and O’Connor are all either current or former union representatives who have been outspoken about Henderson’s administration, including what they said were violations of a federal law requiring D209 officials to complete Individual Education Plans (IEPs) for special education students. When LaBash emailed parents about the potential federal violation, Supt. Henderson suspended for three days “without even officially notifying her of the discipline,” the lawsuit states. 

In an interview last week, the three teachers said they’re speaking for many women employees at D209 who have experienced similar treatment but are afraid of retaliation.

LaBash said “all five Proviso West union representatives are women, Nicole is one of them, and they are getting attacked daily and trying their best. It’s not just them. It’s primarily all the women.” 

Gillespie said she was targeted for helping build a slate of candidates running in the April 4 election who are very critical of Supt. Henderson and the school board, and have vowed to hold him accountable if they’re elected. Gillespie said because of her work with the slate, called Proviso 209 United, she was removed from her paid summer school teaching position, which she had held for 18 years. 

“We didn’t ask to be in this position,” Gillespie said. “If you look at the timeline of everything, we have tried to avoid any type of litigation. Before this happened, our union was involved, and there were attempts to sit down and discuss remedies with the superintendent and the board.” 

The lawsuit also states that in July 2022, O’Connor was removed from her position as a student counselor, which she’d held for 12 years, and assigned to teach business education, “which she had not taught for 13 years, with insufficient time for her to prepare in an appropriate way,” the lawsuit states. 

“Since Henderson got there and since the strike, it’s been pretty tumultuous,” O’Connor said in an interview last week, adding that “we’ve all experienced some form of retaliation and disparate treatment that has not been consistent across the district. The district has been pretty much falling apart. Every major department that is student-related and the finances have pretty much been ruined.” 

The federal lawsuit contains one count of Deprivation of Rights Under the First Amendment, alleging that Supt. Henderson and the district “have engaged in a policy or practice of depriving” the teachers “at various times of their rights under the First Amendment to speak and associate without reprisal.” 

LaBash and the other terminated teacher who requested anonymity want to be reinstated. Gillespie and O’Connor want their suspensions expunged, along with other measures designed to prohibit the district “from continuing to punish and take reprisals against Plaintiffs for exercise of their First Amendment rights.” The teachers are also seeking unspecified damages.