A federal judge has refused to dismiss the lawsuit of a former Weld County schools superintendent who alleges her school board fired her after she stood up against multiple incidents of racism, sexism and homophobia involving one of the district’s principals.

Leslie Arnold led Weld County School District RE-5J from 2018 to 2021, where she reportedly received positive performance reviews. However, days after Arnold sent an email decrying the “cover-up” of a principal’s problematic behavior, the elected board of education terminated her contract.

On June 14, U.S. District Court Judge Nina Y. Wang denied the school district’s request to dismiss the lawsuit. She found Arnold had credibly alleged the board fired her because of “protected activity” under civil rights law – specifically, that she opposed leaving Principal Brian Littlefield in charge of Roosevelt High School given multiple, substantiated incidents of discrimination.

“There are no ‘magic words’ necessary to qualify for protected opposition,” Wang wrote. Instead, “the employee simply must convey to the employer his or her concern that the employer has engaged in an unlawful practice prohibited by discrimination law.”

Beginning in early 2021, Arnold allegedly received several complaints about Littlefield:

? He told a teacher to remove a “Black Lives Matter” sign from her virtual classroom, but not a “Blue Lives Matter” flag from a different room

? Littlefield did not think it was a “big deal” when the head boys’ basketball coach used the N-word during a game

? He responded that “kids will be kids” when one student, during a virtual pep rally, changed his display name on Zoom to a variation on the N-word

? Littlefield was dismissive toward female administrators, and only was receptive to ideas if they came from male employees

? He “couldn’t stand” Gov. Jared Polis’ marriage to a man, and said he wanted a “true king and true queen” for homecoming – meaning no transgender students

Arnold asked the human resources department to start an investigation. In April 2021, an investigator agreed there was merit to the claims that Littlefield inappropriately responded to racial issues, made derogatory comments about LGBTQ people and treated men differently from women.

Although Arnold recommended that Littlefield be fired, the district instead let him remain as “co-principal” of Roosevelt. Around that time, the board indicated it would “open up” Arnold’s performance evaluation for reconsideration, while denying it was preparing to terminate her.

On May 7, Arnold sent an email to board members forcefully disagreeing with the decision to keep Littlefield.

“The action the Board of Education took to leave Brian Littlefield at RHS until the end of the school year seems like it was done to potentially cover-up and to hide the fact that Brian Littlefield had substantiated allegations against him that dealt with his involvement in racism, homophobia, misogyny,” she wrote, “and using derogatory slang to call our students essentially ‘stupid farmers’.”

Five days later, the board voted to fire her.

Arnold filed a lawsuit alleging her termination amounted to retaliation in violation of federal and state civil rights law.

“Ms. Arnold engaged in protected activity by expressing her good faith belief that agents of the district intentionally discriminated against Black, female, and transgender students and employees and that the district had failed to remedy that situation,” wrote her lawyers, asking for monetary damages and Arnold’s reinstatement as superintendent.

The school district invoked multiple grounds for dismissing the lawsuit. It alleged Arnold was the board’s “personal staff” or a “policymaking” appointee, both of which are exempt from retaliation claims. The district also argued that Arnold’s job description involved investigating complaints of discrimination, and it was not “protected activity” to disagree with the outcome of the investigation. 

“The email is not a complaint about discrimination and harassment; rather, plaintiff is merely voicing that she disagreed with the board’s decision and thought Principal Littlefield should be terminated,” wrote the district’s lawyers.

Wang rejected the district’s interpretation. Arnold’s email was, in fact, a complaint about discrimination, she noted. The district also failed to prove Arnold was not covered under the law. Finally, Arnold had shown that she “stepped outside her job description” in voicing her concerns about Littlefield to the board.

Currently, Littlefield also has a pending federal lawsuit against the school district. Arnold is named as one of the defendants. While there is some overlap, Littlefield, who was terminated one month after Arnold, focused on a different set of circumstances that allegedly led to his firing.

Describing himself as a “Christian male who lives his life through the teachings of Jesus Christ,” Littlefield claimed Arnold sought his ouster after he gave a speech to a group of Christian athletes.

Littlefield maintained he is not homophobic, as he has a “family member that is homosexual.” Littlefield’s complaint acknowledged the human resources investigation resulted in multiple sustained allegations of misconduct against him, as Arnold described in her own lawsuit.

Arnold has moved to dismiss Littlefield’s claims against her, and the request is pending before a different judge.

The case is Arnold v. Weld County School District RE-5J et al.