Settlement reached in MSBSD lawsuit regarding students’ rights

Last week, a settlement was reached in a lawsuit in which two students challenged the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District (MSBSD) after they said the school district violated their free speech rights during an investigation last year.

Ben Kolendo and Quinlen Schachle filed a lawsuit in November, 2023 saying that the school district had violated their First Amendment rights following an investigation by the school district after Kolendo, Schachle and others testified at a school board meeting.

The key component to the settlement is a joint statement drafted by both parties that states that all involved agree on and commit to several core principles, including that students are entitled to express their personal opinions so long as it does not interfere with the educational process nor the freedoms of others to express themselves, and that students can assemble peacefully on school grounds, but district officials may set time, place and safety-related restrictions.

“The Parties agree that students should have the freedom to have political discussions with one another on campus. Moreover, students have the freedom to associate with one another and have open and honest political discussions, so long as such associations do not interfere with the rights and safety of other students and faculty. Students possess the right to assemble peacefully. And the District may set reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions on such assemblies, in part, to ensure the safety of the school community. And we commit to the protection of students when validly practicing their first amendment rights,” part of the statement reads.

“This joint statement affirms that students are entitled to express their personal opinions. It affirms that students have the freedom to have political discussions with one another on campus. It affirms that students have the right to protest peacefully. And the district has committed to the protection of students when they’re practicing their first amendment rights,” says Kolendo.

“First and foremost, this settlement affirms students’ first amendment rights,” says Schachle. “We want students to know that this settlement means that the district agrees that their first amendment rights are protected.”

He said that he and Kolendo began this lawsuit with those protections in mind and that all parties were able to come together to agree to the core principles and are in agreement with the district placing restrictions as needed when students do decide to protest.

“We are trusting the district to uphold the precedent of reasonable time and place restrictions; and that this settlement affirms that when students’ free speech is restricted, it’s going to be reasonable and fair, and both parties are committing to that,” said Schachle.

“We and the district are showing that we have faith and we trust that those complaints that we brought in the past are not something we need to be worried about, and the district, in the future, will be ensuring that they are protecting the students,” added Kolendo.

The initial investigation that sparked the lawsuit meeting in question was held on September 6, 2023, when the school board voted to change the role of the Student Advisory Board Representative (SABR), which had historically sat on the dais with school board members, participated in meetings and had the ability to engage in dialogue and ask questions, as well as make preferential votes. Kolendo had been serving as the SABR when the school board removed the SABR from the dais and took away the SABR’s role on the school board.

Dozens of people, including Kolendo and Schachle, who was President of the Alaska Association of Student Governments at the time, protested and spoke out during the meeting, voicing their opposition of the move by the school board. Documents state that following the meeting, MSBSD administrators interrogated students about their participation in the public meeting. Kolendo and Schachle were both removed from their classes and maintain that they questioned about their participation, and that they were left feeling intimidated by the district.

Students were later barred from political speech following a student walkout held in schools throughout the MSBSD in protest to the removal of the SABR and possible violations of their first amendment rights.

Meanwhile, the school board has since dissolved the Student Advisory Board, which had been in place for years.

The Northern Justice Project, a civil rights law firm, represented Kolendo and Schachle, who have both since graduated their high schools, in the lawsuit As part of the settlement, the district must also pay $30,000 to cover attorney fees.

“Ben and I are both so happy that this lawsuit is settled, and we’re so grateful to our legal team for them being a constant source of support within the lawsuit,” said Schachle, who is currently in the middle of his freshman year at the University of Notre Dame.

“In the end, we are really positive about this joint statement. It affirms some really important things that me and Quin have stood by for the past seven years,” says Kolendo, who recently started the Kolendo Collective, a lobbying group advocating for the rights and well-being of youth across Alaska by empowering young people through political action, defending and fighting for their rights to free speech, expression, and association. “It’s continuing the work I had done in the past two years.”