Three teachers disciplined for their involvement in a student-led drag show have settled their lawsuits against the Ankeny school district.
The lawsuits arose from a May 2022 event hosted by the Gender-Sexuality Alliance clubs at Ankeny High School and Southview Middle School. Although attendees and parents later told district officials the event was wholesome and denied anything inappropriate occurred, the show drew criticism from conservative activists and media sites, leading to harassment and threats against the participants, according to court filings.
The district launched investigations into teachers Jill Bjorklund and Mollie Jo Blahunka, who sponsored the clubs, and PJ Hurley, who attended at an organizer’s invitation. All were put on leave through the end of the school year, causing them to miss graduation ceremonies and other events.
Bjorklund was ultimately suspended for five days and Blahunka for three days the following school year, and all three were banned from sponsoring student activities and threatened with termination for any further policy violations.
The district also filed ethics charges with the Iowa Board of Education Examiners, according to the teachers. The board eventually voted to dismiss the cases.
In their lawsuits, initially filed in state court and later running parallel in state and federal courts, the teachers accused the district of discriminating against them because of their sexual orientation or their associations with others related to sexual orientation. Blahunka is a queer woman, Hurley is a gay man and Bjorklund is the mother of a transgender child.
After years of litigation, the dispute was set for trial beginning July 20, but instead has ended with the settlement. Under the deal, signed July 1, the district will pay each teacher nearly $27,700 plus $67,000 to their attorneys, for a total of about $150,000.
An attorney for the teachers did not respond to a request for comment. “The matter was resolved to the satisfaction of all parties,” Samantha Aukes, a spokesperson for the district, said in an email.
The 2022 drag show predates a 2023 Iowa law that forbade “instruction related to gender identity or sexual orientation,” which many schools took to forbid Gay-Straight Alliances and similar student groups. A federal appeals court in April allowed the law to take effect after attorneys for the state argued it applies only to formal instruction, not voluntary extracurricular activities.
William Morris covers courts for the Des Moines Register. He can be contacted at wrmorris2@registermedia.com or 715-573-8166.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Ankeny teachers reach settlement over drag show discipline
Reporting by William Morris, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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By William Morris, Des Moines Register | USA TODAY Network
