A former middle school dean of students has filed a free speech lawsuit against a Colorado school district after he was allegedly fired for expressing patriotic views during a mandatory Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) training.
America First Legal filed the complaint on Thursday in the U.S. District Court of Colorado on behalf of Patrick Hogarty, who was fired from his job as the Dean of Students at Campus Middle School in the Cherry Creek School District.
The lawsuit alleges that the Cherry Creek School District violated Hogarty’s First Amendment rights when they “pressured him to embrace race-based ideologies” during the mandatory DEI training.
During the training on January 18, 2024, Hogarty was asked questions about his experience being a white American citizen, including questions such as “What does it mean to be white?” and “How do you identify?”
He responded by explaining that he “identifies as an American who believes the U.S. is the greatest country in the world,” according to the lawsuit.
🚨A Colorado school district fired a dean of students for pushing back against critical race theory.
When asked how he “identifies,” the former dean of students Patrick Hogarty responded "that he identifies as an American, that he loves his country, and that he believes it is… pic.twitter.com/c22tzqBaCT
— Nicki Neily (@nickineily) September 26, 2024
Hogarty also “refused to admit that the U.S. is ‘systemically racist’ during a mandatory DEI training,” according to a post on X from America First Legal.
/1‼️NEW LAWSUIT‼️
We just sued a Colorado School District for eliminating an employee’s position after he said he believes that the U.S. is the greatest country in the world and refused to admit that the U.S. is “systemically racist” during a mandatory DEI training.
THREAD: pic.twitter.com/nIrvXDGuan
— America First Legal (@America1stLegal) September 26, 2024
Cherry Creek’s “equity director,” who also attended the racist training, allegedly reported Hogarty’s response to the school principal — claiming that his patriotism represented “racist undertones,” according to the complaint.
The lawsuit further accuses the Cherry Creek School District of eliminating Hogarty’s position in March 2024, noting that the school cited “budgetary reasons.”
Apparently, the funding for the position of “dean of students” was no longer in the budget, but funding for an “equity director” still was, showing the insanity of the radical left’s positions.
America First Legal also discovered proof that the stated reason for his position being eliminated was false, noting that the school district’s records “show an increase in staffing allocations for the 2024-2025 school year.”
/9 The district cited “budgetary reasons” for eliminating his position—a justification contradictory to its records, which show an increase in staffing allocations for the 2024-2025 school year. Further, when our client spoke to district officials and expressed that he did not…
— America First Legal (@America1stLegal) September 26, 2024
When Hogarty was made aware of that he was being laid off from Campus Middle School, he pushed back against the “budgetary reasons” explanation — prompting the school district to place him on administrative leave, citing “unprofessional conduct.”
America First Legal senior advisor Ian Prior explained the motivations for the lawsuit in a press release, writing: “Cherry Creek School District blatantly violated the First Amendment rights of our client when they terminated him because his pride in the United States of America did not align with the district’s political ideology that America is a systematically racist nation. Like other school districts across the country, Cherry Creek has replaced the Bill of Rights with the ‘DEI Manifesto,’ and teachers, students, and parents are being silenced for standing up for the values that make America great.”
