District Court
Tom Kayser, Genevieve Zimmerman and David Pinto of the law firm Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi, L.L.P.
Our long-standing GSA case has finally ended in victory for our clients! In 2009, after losses on many levels, the Osseo School District finally gave in to the inevitable and decided not to appeal the latest ruling against them. The Osseo School District has been forced to change their policies and treat all non-curricular school groups equitably.
Below is a the timeline of the case:
In April 2006, the ACLU-MN won a preliminary injunction requiring the Osseo Area School District to provide equal treatment to the Straights and Gays for Equality (SAGE) student group. The ACLU-MN filed the suit in September 2005 following nearly two years of discussion with the school district over their policy towards SAGE. In her ruling, Judge Erickson ordered the school to treat SAGE like any other student group when it came to access for meetings, avenues for communication and rights afforded to other student groups. The judge went on to rule that there is a likelihood that the ACLU-MN suit would ultimately be successful, and issued the preliminary injunction to prevent "Irreparable harm" from befalling the group while the case ran its course.
Groups like SAGE work to promote tolerance and to ensure that traditionally marginalized students feel safe and valued at school. Instead of denying SAGE equal access, the school should be encouraging them, and this order is an important first step toward that happening.
After the ruling the School District filed an appeal and three separate motions, one with the district court and two in the Eight Circuit Court of Appeals - to have the injunction stayed pending an appeal. All three motions were denied.
The case is now awaiting trial in the district court.
Updates
In May 2007 the ACLU-MN brought a motion to strike witnesses from testifying because the defendants had not previously named the witnesses during discovery. The names of 25 witnesses, who are all teachers at Maple Grove High School, were submitted to the court the day after discovery ended. The plaintiffs had previously requested teachers from the school to appear as witnesses but were told by the defendants they could not release the names of the witness for privacy reasons. The magistrate granted the ACLU-MN's motion and struck the witnesses from testifying.
In September 2007 the Osseo School District once again appealed the district court, this time against a permanent injunction, which requires the school to treat Straights and Gays for Equality like any other student group. No date has been set for the appeal.
You can read the memorandums and the magistrate order below. You can read this news release at "Osseo School District Appeals District Court's decision"
Legal Documents
Briefs
Decisions
|
