Gay Teacher in Oregon Wins $90K Settlement
A school district that once banned Pride flags will pay $90,000 to settle a gay teacher's "hostile work environment" lawsuit.
A gay teacher in Oregon was awarded $90,000 as part of a lawsuit alleging she was subjected to a hostile work environment and retaliated against for her support of LGBTQ students.
Eileen Brennock, a Spanish teacher at Mountain View Middle School, in Newberg, Oregon, claimed that the school’s former principal, Terry McElligot, told staff at a meeting on September 10, 2021, that “it’s not okay to tell kids it’s okay to be gay or trans.”
McElligot also reportedly told teachers not to display any Pride or “Black Lives Matter” flags or insignia to avoid “pok[ing] the bear.”
The alleged remarks from McElligot, who has since retired, came one month after the Newberg School Board voted to ban so-called “divisive” symbols, signs, clothing, buttons and other accoutrements that could be considered “political.”
That policy was ruled unconstitutional by a county judge a year later and quietly overturned.
Brennock was made uncomfortable by McElligot’s alleged statements. She reported them to Assistant Principal Lindsey Kopacek, who allegedly gaslit her, telling her that McElligot never made such statements and that she must have imagined it “due to cortisol and stress levels.”
Brennock reportedly replied that if a student told her they were gay, she would tell them, “Me too!”
Kopacek allegedly cautioned Brennock that she could get in “serious trouble” and that it was not okay to make such statements.
When Brennock disagreed with her, Kopacek allegedly threatened Brennock’s employment.
A month later, Brennock filed a grievance regarding McElligot’s alleged comments with the Newberg-Dundee Public Schools district, but the district told her that her claims were unsubstantiated, despite other individuals who heard the comments backing up her claims.
Two months later, Brennock filed a complaint with the Oregon Department of Education regarding McElligot’s alleged statements. In defending itself, Newberg-Dundee Public Schools claimed that McElligot never made the statements ascribed to her, and, if she did, they would not have been discriminatory because they were “not intended to be.”
The Oregon Department of Education investigated Brennock’s claims and ultimately issued a preliminary final order in Brennock’s favor. In its ruling, the department found that the district had likely violated the state’s LGBTQ-inclusive nondiscrimination laws, saying that “the district misunderstands what constitutes discrimination under the law.”
“It does not matter whether [McElligot] intended their comments to differentiate on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or race. All that matters is whether [those] comments did differentiate on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or race,” the ruling said.
“[McElligot]’s comments clearly articulated that teacher conduct toward students belonging to certain protected classes should be different than conduct toward other students,” the ruling continued. “[Those] comments clearly subjected teacher support for the Pride and Black Lives Matter movements to different rules than support for other movements.”
Brennock claimed in her lawsuit that she and the district entered a “conciliation agreement” aimed at mitigating anti-LGBTQ discrimination. Part of the agreement required the district to train staff on LGBTQ issues.
But Brennock claimed, in her most recent lawsuit, that the agreement was violated on several occasions, with the district delaying the start of the training, “constantly undermining and ridiculing the staff” who were making the training presentations, allegedly threatening presenters, and changing the wording in the anti-discrimination presentation to claim that LGBTQ people are from the “opposite side of the fence.”
Brennock accused the former superintendent, Stephen Phillips, of allegedly using an anti-gay slur and implying that laws protecting LGBTQ people are “immoral.”
She claimed that Phillips and other administrators mocked the very idea of the training and made offensive statements about LGBTQ identity, creating a “hostile work environment.”
One of the terms of the conciliation agreement was that Brennock agreed to work at another middle school in the district. According to her lawsuit, she was later told she wouldn’t be allowed to return to her original school because her position was cut.
The Oregon Department of Education subsequently found, in October 2023, that the district had violated its conciliation agreement and ordered the district to comply with its obligations.
In her lawsuit, filed two months after that finding, Brennock claimed the environment fostering anti-LGBTQ animus caused her “emotional distress” and even made her fear for her physical safety. In November 2024, the district agreed to settle Brennock’s lawsuit, paying her $90,000 in non-economic damages — with about $53,000 going towards Brennock and the remainder going to her attorney, Diane Sykes.
As part of the agreement, the district does not admit liability but has agreed to place discrimination complaint forms on its website and print forms in school counselors’ offices by the start of the 2025-26 school year.
The district also agreed to publicly state it will foster an inclusive environment for all students and staff members.
“The District reaffirms its dedication to promoting an inclusive, welcoming, and equitable school and work environment for all students and staff,” the district said in the statement. “The settlement of this case is one step toward restoring stability and focusing again on providing a high-quality education for all of its students.”
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