Rochester Mom Settles Lawsuit With School District: Report

ROCHESTER, MI — The parent of two Rochester Community Schools students reached a tentative settlement with the school district after she filed a lawsuit claiming a district official got her fired from a job for criticizing the school district's COVID-19 policies, reports said.

"We have to address ... the abusive and bullying behavior by our district that has been condoned by our board of education," Andrew Weaver told the school board, according to the Associated Press.

Elena Dinverno filed a lawsuit against the school district, claiming her free speech rights were violated, after she said a member of the district's board of education called her employer and claimed Dinverno was participating in a group "engaged in launching threats against the school district."

Dinverno said she participated in Facebook groups where she sought opinions from parents and students in supporting the idea of reopening schools to in-person learning, during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the lawsuit.

Dinverno said she frequently questioned the school board's decisions in the Facebook groups, and never made any threats toward the district or its officials, according to the lawsuit.

Dinverno also claimed in the lawsuit that the school board member who contacted her employer, Blake's, worked for Crain's Communications and noted in the phone call that Blake's President Andrew Blake was named one of Crain's Detroit Business’s "40 under 40." During the call, the school board member and Crain's employee threatened to revoke Blake's honor, according to the lawsuit.

Although attorneys for the school district still deny any wrongdoing, the school district has now acknowledged that a school administrator, not a school board member made a call in a recent court filing, reports said.

"They have zero business policing her speech," Dinverno's lawyer Deborah Gordon told the AP in 2021 when the lawsuit was filed.

Along with calls for the resignation of Superintendent Bob Shaner and other officials at a school board meeting Monday, another Rochester school board member proposed a measure that would prevent district officials from taking action against people who question the district's policies, reports said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.