Coached fired for transgender comment receives 17 times annual stipend, school admits he didn’t violate hazing policy
by Mike Donoghue, Vermont News First
Republished from the March 7 Vermont Standard newsletter
A longtime Woodstock snowboarding coach, who was fired a year ago after he joined in a brief discussion by a couple of team members about transgender athletes, has settled his unlawful discharge lawsuit against the school district, Vermont Principals’ Association and the Vermont Agency of Education for $75,000.
The settlement was reached during talks with an early neutral evaluator, Gregory S. Clayton of Montpelier, on Jan. 25, but specific details were withheld until Town Meeting Day.
David J. Bloch will receive $50,000 — nearly 17 times his annual stipend for overseeing the Woodstock Union High School team, according to his lawyers. Bloch founded the Woodstock snowboarding team in 2011 and was paid $4,439 for the seasonal coaching job.
The other $25,000 will go to the Alliance for Defending Freedom, which offered to represent Bloch for free because it said it believed in his legal fight.
The payments will be made on behalf of the school district, the VPA and the Vermont AOE, Matthew W. Hoffmann, an attorney with ADF, said.
Both the Agency of Education and school district admitted the conversation by Coach Bloch did not violate the state-mandated Harassment, Hazing, and Bullying policy when he was fired in February 2023, Hoffmann said.
“The money is the cherry on top,” Bloch said about the payment. “I was able to defend myself.”
Bloch said he was amazed by the hundreds of people from all walks of life who mentioned they supported him and stated on Tuesday afternoon, “This is a huge win. The town now knows.”
He said he heard no pushback to his First Amendment stance.
Bloch and the ADF have always maintained the coach had respectfully expressed his view that males are biologically different than females and that those differences generally give males an advantage in sports.
The Woodstock boys and girls were at a snowboarding meet at Jay Peak in February 2023 when Hartford High had a transgender athlete competing according to Bloch’s lawsuit.
Two Woodstock Union student-athletes — a boy and a girl — were having a private conversation in the ski lodge about the situation during a break in the competition. Bloch, who overheard part of the chat, said he joined the private conversation briefly and mentioned that males have a physical advantage over females, the lawsuit said.
“I’m supporting these girls,” he said about his team members. Bloch said boys have an advantage due to bone structure and testosterone.
Bloch said several other coaches have been unfairly fired and he believed he had to stand up on behalf of all of them.
It was unclear how Hartford High, whose team traveled on the same bus as Woodstock, heard about the private conversation, but it filed a hearsay complaint that night, records show. The Woodstock Union High School assistant principal and athletic director did a brief investigation the following morning. By early afternoon, Sousa fired Bloch.
Bloch maintained in his lawsuit that he was engaged in constitutionally protected speech and that school officials never provided him his rights, including how to appeal the dismissal, nor gave him a copy of the investigative report resulting in the obstruction of his First Amendment and due process rights by Superintendent Sherry Sousa; the Windsor Central Supervisory Union Board; Jay Nichols, executive director of the VPA; and Heather Bouchey, interim secretary of the Vermont AOE.
For more on this, please see March 7 edition of the Vermont Standard
Categories: Education
Coach Bloch-1. Marxists-0.
Proof that despite all the insanity in Vermont, standing up for the truth is rewarded.
Two Genders, God doesn’t make mistakes.
This is a crucial victory for the First amendment as well as for the science of biology and the reality of the gender/sex binary. Many thanks for the perseverance of Mr. Bloch and for the assistance of the Alliance Defending Freedom in standing for principle in this matter.
Objective science and simple observation tells us that there are significant anatomical and physiological differences between the male and female of the human species, with a bell-curve overlap. There are valid and virtuous reasons that advanced societies have traditionally accepted the concept of certain activities and venues being segregated by sex/gender, and the criteria has always been anatomical. Most of us “western” cultures are perfectly ok with segregating public changing facilities/bathrooms, our prison system and some sports, and this is primarily in place for the protection of women. In the case of sports, there is also the issue of competitiveness. Now that we are supposed to regard “gender” as a social construct and a matter of personal psychology, that shouldn’t change the anatomical standard for those venues. Homosexuals have been around forever, and their psychology of whom they are attracted to has never determined which restroom or locker room they use or which prison they may be sent to. With homosexuals, the criteria has always been anatomical, NOT psychological. Why should it be any different for those with gender confusion issues? It’s not that complicated.
Thank Dr John Money and Michel Foucault for this insanity.
did the tax payers pay this settlement/// of course they did///
In a state where we dont maintain decent striping on the highways partially because of our bloated pig of education spending, that settlement was worth every penny. When we taxpayers look for some accountability for that largess in the form of decent standardized test scores, we come up disappointed every time. It’s good to see their knuckles get rapped for a change even if it comes out of our own pockets. Granted, it would be better to see those who went after Mr. Bloch for his freely expressed comments terminated from their jobs, but I’ll take what I can get in this marxist, authoritarian bleephole that Vermont has become.
It comes from insurance that the school is required to hold///not the taxpayers///sorry to ruin your narrative
Chris, and the taxpayers pay for the insurance policy, which is likely to go up even more due to all the frivolous firings in this state otherwise known as cancel culture.
A principal was fired for saying such things as burning and looting might not endear others to your cause, the cause she supported.
When you crack up your car, get massive speeding tickets and a DUI what happens to your insurance bill? Is it a free ride? “Insurance covers it” or does your bill go through the roof?
No, the sly Vermont leadership, will say oh it’s inflation…that’s why the bill is going up, so too, could the DUI driver, but it wouldn’t be the whole truth now would it?
The work environment in Vermont schools must be entirely oppressive, could not imagine trying to tip toe through all the marxist language and science denying traps they must have to navigate, surely it can’t be conducive in bringing in the best teachers.
Re: “When you crack up your car, get massive speeding tickets and a DUI what happens to your insurance bill? Is it a free ride? “Insurance covers it” or does your bill go through the roof?”
Neither Neil. Your insurance company drops you. And without insurance you can’t register your car. You are, in effect, out of business. Not so with the public-school monopoly.
Chris (whoever he is) is one of those people who mistakenly persists in thinking that because someone else pays for something it is somehow ‘free’.
i refuse to take what get///
the insurance is paid by the tax payer
Good for him for standing up to school district bullying. We need more people that stand up and defend themselves like this. Schools usually stand firm in the beginning but settle up fast when they’re told what a decision going the other way will cost. The school board is usually told settle up and walk away.
The schools don’t care what it costs; they win by showing everyone on their staff that it is their way or they shame you, walk you out the door and fire you. This is how they keep their control over the staff, by scaring them into compliance, for fear of humiliation. The schools could care less about the payout. They got what they wanted. So grateful for those who will sue and for Americans for Defending Freedom for doing this, because VT lawyers do little to protect Vermonters against government overreach and abuse of the people.
Now the school board members which fired him must be voted out.
The most important thing to bear in mind here Chris, is whether or not this decision somehow impacts the tampon machines being placed in boy’s bathrooms.