ASHBURN, Va. (7News) — Loudoun County parents and community members have filed a preliminary injunction in federal court asking a judge to immediately allow parents and community members to speak at school board meetings to discuss safety issues in their lawsuit against the Loudoun County School Board and of Loudoun County School Board President Melinda Mansfield is moving forward.

“The application of the School Board’s policies is arguably unconstitutional because the defendants all but admit that they discriminated on the basis of viewpoint in violation of the First Amendment. Additionally, the policies are arguably unconstitutionally vague in violation of the First Amendment,” the injunction request states. “Deprivation of freedom of expression is a classic form of irreparable harm. Plaintiffs wish to continue to discuss safety issues at Loudoun County school board meetings and will suffer irreparable harm to their First Amendment rights if the requested injunction is not issued.”

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The federal lawsuit claims the Loudoun County School Board and school board president Mansfield violated parents’ First Amendment rights by interrupting parents multiple times at a school board meeting and ultimately ending public comment early.

This month, Loudoun County School Board President Mansfield interrupted several parents and ultimately ended public comment when parents raised concerns about a student with ties to the MS-13 gang, threatened to kill a student and, in a separate incident, was arrested. for carrying a loaded gun to school. The Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) student is also in the U.S. illegally, according to sources familiar with the situation.

Before the school board meeting, 7News exclusively reported that the Loudoun County student has ties to the MS-13 gang, is in the U.S. illegally, was arrested in Loudoun County last year for carrying a loaded gun, and this year was set at Loudoun Valley High School, according to sources.

“Where is the protection and safety of our children who are in school with other children who have experienced threats, who have been arrested and who have returned to school and my daughter is terrified to go to school with him,” said one parent . school board before Mansfield interrupted the parent and asked him not to discuss personally identifiable information about a student during public comment.

“I didn’t provide any personally identifiable information,” Mansfield’s parent replied. “This kid has gone out of his way to show everyone who he is.”

“Excuse me, what you are saying now is personal,” Mansfield said.

Mansfield turned down three other parents who signed up to speak on the same topic.

SEE ALSO |Loudoun County schools move students with alleged MS-13 ties to ‘alternative placement’

Ian Prior is senior counsel at America First Legal, which represents some of the parents and community members who brought their concerns to the Loudoun County school board.

“These (parents) are people who are very committed to making sure that we have not only the best school system in the country, but a school system that is transparent and that cares about school safety,” Prior said. “And of course one of our plaintiffs is the mother of the girl who was sexually assaulted in 2021, so she has a very personal understanding of what happens when a school operates in a way where it transfers a student who might be a threat to others. So again, this is such a big concern for the community, it’s been for years, and what we’re seeing, unfortunately, is that this school board has not learned from the mistakes of the past.”

Two weeks ago, 7News first reported that LCPS had transferred the student to an alternate placement, according to the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office, but it’s unclear where the alternate placement is.

Prior told 7News that the Loudoun County School Board violated the First Amendment by interrupting speakers and ending public comment earlier this month.

READ MORE | Loudoun parents raise safety concerns when meeting with students with alleged MS-13 ties

“They violated the First Amendment because they saw the speech of our clients and the plaintiffs here and said, ‘We don’t like this speech,'” Prior said. “This is viewpoint discrimination. So when you allow certain speech on certain topics you like, then take topics you don’t like and say “you can’t say we’re going to close public comments so you don’t keep saying.” that’s point of view discrimination. Their (the school board’s) job is to communicate with community members about these issues of public concern, not to silence them because, for whatever reason, they don’t want to. to hear that at a school board meeting.”

The day after the school board meeting, Superintendent Aaron Spence and President Mansfield wrote in a press release that “LCPS will not support a forum where information about certain students is discussed publicly” and “Misinformation is growing and school divisions like LCPS you have to be vigilant in actively combating it.”

“I would say the evidence of viewpoint discrimination, as strong as it is from what happened during the meeting, only intensified the next day when she comes out and says it’s our job to combat misinformation,” Prior said . “Well, it’s not the government’s job to combat disinformation. It’s not Melinda Mansfield’s job to fight misinformation, and it’s not the Loudoun County School Board’s job to fight misinformation. I mean, you don’t have to be constitutionally righteous to understand that. The First Amendment makes clear that government is not the arbiter of truth.”

Several parents said they were concerned that LCPS allowed the student back to school earlier this school year.