A jury will decide whether Weld County School District RE-5J unlawfully retaliated against its former superintendent because she stood up against multiple incidents of racism, sexism and homophobia involving one of the district’s principals.

U.S. District Court Judge Nina Y. Wang denied the district’s request to resolve the case in its favor without a trial, writing in a Dec. 5 order that there was a factual dispute over whether the school board decided to terminate Leslie Arnold before or after she raised concerns about discrimination.

The district argued its board members already had worries about Arnold’s performance before May 7, 2021, when Arnold sent an email in opposition to retaining Brian Littlefield as the principal of Roosevelt High School. By that time, an independent investigator had substantiated allegations that Littlefield improperly responded to issues related to race and the LGBTQ community, and exhibited differential treatment of male and female school leaders.

However, Arnold contended she was the one who alerted board members as early as March 4 that Littlefield engaged in discriminatory conduct, with a follow-up in April. Under that timeline of events, Arnold’s concerns about unlawful discrimination in the district preceded – and, in her view, led to – the decision to fire her.

“Defendants may well be correct that they contemplated Ms. Arnold’s termination before her May 7, 2021, email, and that fact may well have legal significance,” Wang wrote. “However, the evidence which Defendants cite does not establish that they contemplated Ms. Arnold’s termination before her April 22, 2021, complaints.”

Arnold was the district’s superintendent from 2018 to 2021. She hired Littlefield to be Roosevelt’s principal beginning in fall 2019. In early 2021, Arnold began to receive complaints about Littlefield, which she conveyed to the school board president, Michael Wailes. The board hired an investigator to address the allegations.

The investigator concluded in mid-April that several claims against Littlefield were founded: he made derogatory comments toward the LGBTQ community, treated female leaders differently from males, he was unprepared for union negotiations and he used a slang, offensive term when addressing students. Littlefield also did not appropriately handle multiple race-based incidents, including one student’s use of a racial slur during a virtual pep rally.

Arnold recommended Littlefield’s termination, but the board allowed him to remain at Roosevelt. Instead, he was demoted to co-principal. In late April, the board indicated it intended to modify Arnold’s previously satisfactory performance evaluation. Then, board members met in closed session to discuss potentially terminating her.

That day, May 7, Arnold emailed the board to argue its decision to continue employing Littlefield “seems like it was done to potentially cover-up and to hide the fact that Brian Littlefield had 7 substantiated allegations against him that dealt with his involvement in racism, homophobia, misogyny … and using derogatory slang to call our students essentially ‘stupid farmers.'” 

Subsequently, the school board voted to fire Arnold. It later terminated Littlefield, as well.

Wang declined to dismiss Arnold’s lawsuit in June, finding Arnold credibly alleged the board violated federal civil rights law by retaliating against her for engaging in “protected activity” – specifically, opposing Littlefield’s discriminatory conduct. Days later, the district moved for summary judgment, asking Wang to end the case in its favor.

“The facts show that Arnold did not, in fact, oppose discrimination when she told the Board about staff complaints, because she did not explain the nature of the complaints to the Board,” argued attorney Holly Ortiz. Even if Arnold did engage in protected activity, “evidence shows that the Board was contemplating termination before Arnold’s May 7, 2021 email.”

Wang, in denying the district’s latest motion, concluded a jury would have to decide when the board began contemplating Arnold’s ouster. It was possible, Wang continued, that Arnold’s claim could fail if the district proved Arnold simply conveyed others’ complaints as part of her job duties.

“Presented with this evidence, a reasonable juror could go either way, and it is not the Court’s role at summary judgment to weigh the evidence,” Wang concluded.

The parties appeared before Wang on Tuesday for a status conference. She set a jury trial to begin on June 24.

Separately, Littlefield has filed a similar lawsuit. In his telling, Arnold sought to terminate him because of his status as a Christian and a White man. In October, U.S. District Court Chief Judge Philip A. Brimmer permitted Littlefield’s retaliation claim to proceed against Arnold. Allegedly, Arnold only took action against Littlefield after he addressed an association of Christian students.

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