Christian principal axed after opposing Matthew Shepard play has lawsuit revived by appeals court
A Christian former school administrator's litigation against a school district in Colorado alleging that anti-Christian discrimination played a role in his termination is expected to continue following a federal court decision earlier this week.
In an opinion published Tuesday, a three-judge panel on the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals partially reversed a lower court opinion that dismissed a lawsuit filed by former Ponderosa High School Athletic Director and Assistant Principal Corey McNellis after he was fired for raising religious objections to an after-school production about Matthew Shepard.
While the appellate court affirmed the lower court's dismissal of McNellis' claims that the school district engaged in unconstitutional free speech retaliation, it reversed the dismissal of the allegations of discrimination he made. The litigation against the Douglas County School District stems from McNellis' 2020 termination.
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In October 2020, the Ponderosa High School theatre director sent an email to the school's staff, including McNellis, announcing that the school's theatre department would put on "The Laramie Project" as a school play. As explained in the 10th Circuit ruling, the production "depicts the aftermath of the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming," described as "widely acknowledged to have been a hate crime motivated by Shepard's sexuality."
McNellis responded to the email, asking her, "As a Dad of a student here and also as an employee in the school, what is my recourse if I disagree with the production? Was this a heads up to see if everyone was cool?"
In an additional email, McNellis informed the theatre director that "As a [C]hristian I would love to collaborate with your project," adding, "Please let me know if the love that Jesus can provide will help your play." Subsequent emails sent by McNellis proclaimed, "For the record, all of administration does not agree with me on this" and "I am totally solo" in addition to stating, "Forgive me for having a different viewpoint and the audacity to publicly share it."
The email chain was shared with Douglas County School District leadership. The director of schools called and told McNellis that he "needed to stay home on Monday ... because of his 'religious' comments."
While he was assured that "nothing was unprofessional" and "he did not need to worry," district officials told him two days later that he was going to be placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation into his "religious comments."
At the time, McNellis expressed concern to his principal and "several co-workers" that he was facing investigation "based on his Christian beliefs."
After the investigation concluded at the end of October 2020, McNellis was terminated. The administrator maintained that the school district "directly cited Mr. McNellis' emails regarding The Laramie Project as the reason for his termination." The principal of the school at the time, who retired in 2022, published a letter after departing from the district asserting that "certain people within the building felt like his email was inappropriate and contacted Human Resources."
"I truly believe that [Mr. McNellis] was 'railroaded' by the specific group of people based on his political and religious views," he wrote. "In my opinion, his firing was unjust and unfair, and unfortunately, even though I was the principal, I couldn't save him because it wasn't my decision to make."
McNellis filed a lawsuit against the district on July 1, 2022, the same day the former Ponderosa High School principal published the letter "on behalf of Corey McNellis, a lifelong friend and colleague." A district court dismissed his claim alleging a violation of his First Amendment right to free speech. The appellate court seconded that conclusion, noting that legal precedent has established that "[E]mployee speech that is made 'pursuant' to the employee's professional duties is not accorded First Amendment protection."
However, the appellate court reversed the dismissal of McNellis' claims of discrimination in violation of Title VII and the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act.
Title VII makes it unlawful "to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual's... religion" while CADA prohibits employers from "discharg[ing] ... any individual otherwise qualified because of ... religion."
"Mr. McNellis's allegations that DCSD repeatedly invoked his 'religious comments' before investigating and terminating him provide a plausible link between his termination and a discriminatory motive," the opinion stated. "Under these circumstances, and at this procedural stage, that is sufficient to 'nudge [his] claims across the line from conceivable to plausible.'"
The appellate court remanded the religious discrimination claims to the lower court for further proceedings. Meanwhile, it dismissed McNellis' claims that he suffered retaliation in violation of Title VII and CADA, suggesting that the former administrator failed to show a connection between his "workplace complaints" and his termination.
According to its official website, Douglas County School District is the third largest school district in the state, educating more than 62,000 students. Ponderosa High School has 1,447 students.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
