A Northeast Indiana mom sued her school district in Federal Court this week with the help of the Goldwater Institute after district leaders violated her constitutional rights by barring her from school grounds for recording a conversation with her daughter’s principal.
Nicole Graves had reason to be concerned after her daughter took a video of her bus driver acting in a menacing way toward students. But when Nicole scheduled a meeting with the principal of Indian Springs Middle School and recorded it, the Whitley County School District retaliated by banning her from her kids’ school.
The district claims that Nicole violated a policy prohibiting audio recordings of meetings without the permission of an administrator. But that policy violates Nicole’s First Amendment rights.
“The no-trespass order wasn’t just an outrageous overreaction, it also violates the U.S. Constitution,” Goldwater Staff Attorney Adam Shelton said. “The First Amendment protects the rights of individuals to engage in expressive activity, including the recording of government officials.”
While the district has since lifted the no-trespass order, the recording policy remains in place. Nicole said the lawsuit is important, because it’s going to happen again.”
“This stuff is not going to stop until people actually take a stand and fight,” she said. “This has been happening for years. It’s just the first time that it’s happened to me.”
Punished for Seeking Accountability
Nicole’s ordeal started in April 2024 when her seventh-grade daughter filmed her school bus driver walking up and down the aisle, smacking his belt against his hand with his pants falling and his underwear visible.
Immediately after the bus incident, Nicole’s daughter filed an incident report with school officials, thinking they would protect her and her classmates. The school was unconcerned, however, and didn’t even think the incident was serious enough to inform parents. Instead, school officials met with Nicole’s daughter alone, without her parents.
Nicole eventually found out what had happened from her daughter and set up a meeting with the principal.
This was not the first time Nicole and her family had issues with the district’s bus drivers, so she recorded the meeting with the principal to ensure an accurate record of what occurred. The principal, however, was more concerned about explaining to Nicole and her husband Andrew that personnel issues with bus drivers weren’t his problem. And he claimed he was simply too busy to inform parents when their child files an incident report of this nature.
“If you don’t trust the bus drivers, if you don’t trust the transportation department,” the principal said, “I’m just going to be very honest—then just bring your kid to school.”
After the meeting, Nicole posted the recording on social media. Instead of addressing her concerns the district sent Nicole a no-trespass order banning her from appearing at any school building to attend any voluntary activity, such as sports, contests, concerts, and plays without written permission from the superintendent’s office at least 24 hours in advance. She was also banned from contacting any staff member without first contacting the superintendent’s office and required to only communicate with staff members in writing. And while the district was quick to take action against Nicole, no one knows if the driver has been punished.
The Goldwater Institute Takes Action to Protect Parents’ Rights
In addition to violating the First Amendment, the school also interfered with Nicole’s constitutional right to direct the care and education of her child.
“Parents have a fundamental right to control and direct the education and upbringing of their children,” Shelton said, “and a necessary part of that right is access to information necessary to determine whether an educational environment is the right environment for one’s child.”
Public schools around the country are attempting to cut parents out of their children’s education. But the Goldwater Institute is spearheading a nationwide campaign to defend parental rights, standing up for parents whose rights have been violated in states like Pennsylvania, Missouri, Texas, Rhode Island, Maine, Massachusetts, and Virginia.
Children don’t belong to the government. It’s time for school leaders to stop bullying parents who dare to get involved.
You can read the complaint here.
