A Colorado middle school dean, who was allegedly fired for refusing to comply with a school district’s attempt to ban 19 books from school libraries, is suing the district. She alleges that the firing of one of the only Black district employees was racially motivated and part of an effort to “silence” her and her criticism of the attempted ban.
LeEllen Condry was hired by the Elizabeth School District as the dean of students at Elizabeth Middle School in June 2024 and fired on Aug. 27, 2024, the day after school district officials read her concerns about the proposed ban, feedback to which the district sought from the community and employees, court records show.
The attempted ban in 2024 sparked widespread criticism from civil rights groups, including the ACLU, the NAACP of Colorado, Montana, and Wyoming, and the Authors’ Guild, and prompted a separate lawsuit. A U.S. district judge ordered the books returned to shelves in April, and after a temporary pause, a federal appeals court affirmed that ruling in May.
Condry and her attorneys characterized the attempt to ban the books as “explicitly racist, sexist, homophobic, and transphobic,” in s 24-page federal lawsuit filed on Sunday…