Mat-Su school district reaches settlement in lawsuit over student free speech rights

What you need to know:

• The Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District reached a settlement this week allowing students to engage in political discussions and peaceful protests on campus, with district officials having the authority to set protest time and place restrictions. The district must also pay out $30,000 in legal fees.
• The settlement resolves a 2023 lawsuit filed by two high school students who claimed their First Amendment rights were violated when officials blocked student political speech and investigated a student protest.
• Two additional lawsuits are pending: one challenges restrictions on transgender students' bathroom access and privacy, and another class-action suit alleges illegal restraint and isolation of students with disabilities.

PALMER – The Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District will allow students to hold political discussions on school grounds as long as they don’t interfere with others’ rights, according to the settlement of a 2023 lawsuit against the district announced this week.

The out-of-court settlement resolves a lawsuit filed on behalf of two high school students who said district officials repeatedly violated their First Amendment rights in 2023 by blocking their political statements on campus and investigating a protest staged at a school board meeting. 

The suit was filed in November 2023 by Quinlen Schachle, then a senior at Wasilla High School who served in student government, and Ben Kolendo, then a senior at Mat-Su Career & Technical High School who served as the student representative on the district school board. Schachle and Kolendo graduated in 2024. Kolendo lost a 2024 school board election bid to incumbent Tom Bergey.

As part of the settlement, Schachle, Kolendo and the district crafted a joint statement agreeing that students can assemble peacefully on school grounds, but district officials may set time, place and safety-related restrictions, according to documents shared by Kolendo. Setting those restrictions is a school district right established by previous case law, Kolendo said in an interview.

The agreement also allows students to have “open and honest” political discussions on any Mat-Su school campus as long as doing so does not interfere with the educational process or impact the rights or safety of other students or staff.

Schachle and Kolendo were represented pro bono by the Anchorage-based Northern Justice Project. As part of the settlement, the district must also pay $30,000 to cover attorney fees, according to terms shared by Kolendo.

The suit alleged that Mat-Su district officials violated students’ First Amendment rights through a trio of actions in fall 2023. 

A school board-directed investigation into whether teachers assisted students with a school board meeting protest intimidated students for expressing their opinions, the suit stated. Students were later banned from political speech during a pair of walkouts held throughout Mat-Su, including on Election Day, the suit alleged. Then, during the Election Day walkout, students were told they could not protest on the grounds of schools used as polling places, it stated.

The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Anchorage. The notice of settlement was filed with the court Thursday.

School district officials were not immediately available for comment.

Kolendo and Schachle said they are happy with the outcome of the case.

“This is a good thing for students, that their rights are protected and the district is recognizing that,” Schachle said in an interview Friday.

A pair of other lawsuits regarding student rights filed against the district in late 2023 and early last year are still pending.

A lawsuit filed in Palmer Superior Court in January of last year on behalf of a transgender student argues that a school district rule banning him from using the bathroom of his choice violates his rights under the state constitution. It also contends that disclosing transgender students’ birth names and sex through the school’s internal information system is a violation of privacy.

A preliminary injunction issued in the case in late December requires the school district to address students by their parent-approved preferred name and not disclose their birth names. A trial date for the suit has not yet been set.

A class-action lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Anchorage against the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District in December 2023 claims the district illegally restrains and isolates disabled students.

A Feb. 26 court order in that case certifies the suit as representing all district students with an identified disability who have been restrained or secluded by district personnel. A trial date has not yet been set.

-- Contact Amy Bushatz at contact@matsusentinel.com