When we told you about the Kansas school that censored students for naming Charlie Kirk and President Trump as role models, then instructed children not to tell their parents, we promised we would fight back. Now, Kansas lawmakers are taking action – and the ACLJ is leading the charge.
On February 3 at 1:30 p.m., our client – the mother who stood up to Marshall Elementary School’s unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination – will testify before the Kansas Senate Education Committee in support of the Safeguarding Personal Expression at K-12 Schools (SPEAKS) Act. This legislation would protect every Kansas student from the kind of discrimination her children endured. We will be right there alongside her, ready to defend her, answer any questions from the legislature, and support her as she speaks up for her children’s rights.
What They Did to This Family
The facts of this case should outrage every parent in America. Last October at Marshall Elementary School in Eureka, Kansas, guidance counselor Kacey Countryman assigned sixth-graders a project called “Find Your Voice” – then silenced students who identified conservative figures as role models.
When a student named Charlie Kirk, Ms. Countryman became visibly uncomfortable and yelled that he was “not a hero.” She ordered the student teacher to erase his name from the board. When another student selected President Trump, the counselor grew even angrier, banning all political and religious figures from public discussion – while permitting football players engaged in political activism, classmates, and other secular figures.
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Then it got worse. After parents complained, Principal Stacy Coulter and Ms. Countryman addressed the sixth-grade class. According to multiple consistent student reports, Principal Coulter instructed students to bring concerns to school officials first – not to their parents. She told the children that the school should be considered their family.
Read that again: School administrators instructed sixth-graders not to tell their parents about classroom concerns.
Our client reasonably requested that her children be excused from Ms. Countryman’s guidance class. The school’s response? They offered to place her children in detention. When she insisted her children not attend, the school sent them to guidance class anyway, claiming there was a “misunderstanding.”
Later, administrators demanded that parents make six trips to school per week to accommodate the opt-out – a transparent attempt to punish the family for exercising their constitutional rights. Our client eventually had no choice but to withdraw her children from the school entirely. And we filed a federal complaint with the DOJ and Department of Education about this school’s actions.
Take action with the ACLJ and add your name to the petition: Defeat the Left’s War on Freedom.
Why Legislative Action Matters
This is precisely why the ACLJ doesn’t stop at filing complaints. Constitutional violations like these reveal systemic problems that require legislative solutions. Schools across America need clear statutory guardrails that protect student speech and parental rights – with real consequences when those protections are violated.
For too long, school administrators have operated with impunity, confident that parents lack the resources to fight back. Legislation like the SPEAKS Act is necessary to ensure that schools are held accountable for violating constitutional rights.
On February 3, Kansas state senators will hear directly from a mother who refused to accept that her children’s constitutional rights could be trampled because a teacher disagreed with their heroes. She’ll describe how an assignment called “Find Your Voice” became a lesson in whose voices don’t matter. She’ll explain how administrators tried to insert themselves between parents and children. She’ll share why she ultimately had no choice but to remove her children from a school that should have been serving them.
The ACLJ is proud to stand with this courageous mother as she takes her story to the state legislature. Her testimony will ensure that lawmakers understand exactly what’s at stake when schools engage in viewpoint discrimination and interfere with parental rights.
Kansas legislators have an opportunity to act. No child should be told their religious or political views make them second-class citizens in their own classroom. And no school should ever instruct children to hide concerns from their parents. We encourage other families in this situation or other similar situations to contact us.
The ACLJ is fighting for this family on every front – through federal complaints, through legislative advocacy, and through the voice of a mother who refused to stay silent. We will be right there alongside her in Kansas to defend her and support her as we stand together for the Constitution.
Take action with the ACLJ and add your name to the petition: Defeat the Left’s War on Freedom.
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