By Michael Donoghue
Vermont News First
BURLINGTON – Vermont Principals’ Association Executive Director Jay Nichols has agreed to pay $566,000 in damages and attorneys’ fees to partially settle a religious discrimination civil lawsuit brought by the Mid Vermont Christian School.
Mid Vermont Christian and one of its families filed the lawsuit against state education leaders in 2023 after the VPA expelled the private school and its students from participating in all state-sponsored activities.
The expulsion came because the Quechee school followed its religious beliefs by forfeiting a girls’ varsity basketball game at the state tournament against the Long Trail School because the Dorset school was using a male player, who claimed to be transgender, according to Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing the school and one of its families.
The VPA’s agreement to pay $566,000 comes after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in New York City in September ruled Vermont had to allow the Christian school back into the state’s athletic association.
MVCS, in its lawsuit, had maintained the VPA created an unsafe and unfair situation by allowing the tall, oversized player on the girls team. The player was more than 6-feet tall.
A federal appeals court in New York City ruled last September that the VPA had violated its own rules and discriminated against the private school located in Quechee. It came when the school said it would take a forfeit rather than play the team with a transgender player, records show. The VPA took the unprecedented step to vote a full ban of Mid Vermont from all sports and activities.
ADF attorneys are continuing to litigate the remainder of the case, Mid Vermont Christian School v. Education Commissioner Zoie Saunders and others.
Vermont education officials have continued to exclude all religious schools, including Mid Vermont, and their students from participating in the state’s tuition program and other public benefit programs, ADF said.
Plaintiffs Mid Vermont Christian, Nathan Partington and his child O.P. did not dismiss any claims against Saunders and the other defendants State Education Board Chair Jennifer Deck Samuelson and the Waits River Valley (Unified #36 Elementary) School Board, court records show.
The dismissal against Nichols is in both his personal and official capacities at the VPA, records show.
The VPA issued a statement that said its lawyer had advised the association to not comment on the settlement, except “to say that we will continue to follow Vermont law and advocate for all Vermont children.”
It was unclear if the VPA has insurance to cover the settlement cost, or if it will be forced to raise prices at VPA events, including post-season sports tournaments and activities.
The plaintiffs and Nichols attended a successful mediation on March 17, ADF lawyers said.
Following that mediation, both sides entered into a settlement agreement, resolving all remaining claims and issues between them.
“The government cannot punish religious schools—and the families they serve—by permanently kicking them out of state-sponsored sports simply because the state disagrees with their religious beliefs,” ADF Senior Counsel David Cortman said.
“For more than two years, state officials denied Mid Vermont Christian School a public benefit available to all other schools in Vermont just because it stood by the widely held, biblical belief that boys and girls are different. There’s a price to pay for violating constitutional rights for Christian schools and students,” he said.
Longtime MVCS coach Chris Goodwin said he never thought he would end up in a court of law, instead of on a basketball court for “simply adhering to my Christian and commonsense belief that boys and girls are different.”
Goodwin, his wife, daughter and son were among the plaintiffs.
“At Mid Vermont Christian School, we strive to exemplify biblical truth in and through everything we do. We’re grateful for our legal team at Alliance Defending Freedom who helped us get back in the game,” he said.
Goodwin added, “As a coach, I always want my team to play in fair and safe competitions. As a dad, I want my daughter to know that she should always stand up for her beliefs and should never be punished for that decision.”
Three years after being banned by the VPA from all extracurricular activities, including sports Mid Vermont Christian was back in the post season girls basketball tournament.
The fourth-seeded MVCS Eagles defeated No. 13 The Sharon Academy in a VPA Division IV playdown game and No. 5 Williamstown in a quarterfinal contest.
MVCS eventually lost in the semi-finals at the Barre Auditorium to No. 1 Richford, the eventual state champions.
The Eagles have had some past athletic success including most recently sharing the Division IV Vermont high school basketball crown in 2020 in a season cut short by COVID. MVCS (17-6) knocked off No. 1 West Rutland in the semifinals, but the final with Proctor was called off creating co-champs for the first time.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York City said in a unanimous decision in September that MVCS has a strong discrimination claim.
“We conclude that Plaintiffs are likely to succeed in showing that the VPA’s expulsion of Mid Vermont was not neutral because it displayed hostility toward the school’s religious beliefs,” the judges wrote.
The three-judge panel said it found open hostility by the VPA toward Mid Vermont Christian. The judges also noted the VPA failed to follow its own rules and policies in its rush to dismiss the Christian school from the statewide association.
The ruling overturned a decision by Senior Federal Judge Geoffrey W. Crawford in Burlington that allowed the banishment to remain in place while the two sides battle in court. The lawsuit will continue, but the court ruled MVCS can participate.
The court, in its 19-page decision, was very critical of Nichols and his conduct toward MVCS and other religious schools in Vermont.
“In sum, Plaintiffs are likely to succeed in establishing that Defendants acted with hostility toward Mid Vermont’s religious beliefs. The VPA Executive Director publicly castigated Mid Vermont – and religious schools generally – while the VPA rushed to judgement on whether and how to discipline the school,” the judges said.
“In upholding the expulsion, the VPA doubled down on that hostility by challenging the legitimacy of the school’s religious beliefs. And as noted above, the punishment imposed was unprecedented, overbroad and procedurally irregular,” the judges wrote.
The judges ordered the case sent back to Vermont with instructions to grant Plaintiff’s motion for a preliminary injunction to allow for Mid Vermont’s reinstatement as a VPA member.
Mid Vermont Christian School, founded in 1987, is a private faith-based pre-K-12 school in Windsor County, whose religious beliefs drive and form the foundation for everything it does. It maintains competing against a male-born athlete would have violated the school’s religious convictions. MVCS joined the VPA about 1993-94 when it fielded its first basketball team.