Timothy R. Snowball
Tim Snowball serves as Senior Counsel at Liberty Justice Center, where he fights to keep government power in check while protecting the individual constitutional rights of Americans.
Allison Roberts believed parents should be able to ask questions about their children’s education.
Allison is a Portland mother of two students in Portland Public Schools. She became concerned after Meriwether Lewis Elementary School displayed an Intersex-Inclusive Progress Pride Flag and her eleven-year-old child was assigned an “identity flower” activity that asked students to identify and publicly discuss their gender. She alleges that the school provided no advance notice of the lesson or opportunity for parents to opt their children out.
Allison sought answers from school officials. When those efforts did not resolve her concerns, she wrote a letter explaining her views and peacefully distributed it to fellow parents from the public sidewalk outside the school.
Instead of addressing her concerns, the district allegedly treated her advocacy as misconduct.
According to the complaint, Portland Public Schools characterized Allison’s speech as harassment and hate speech, opened an investigation and issued a one-year trespass order barring her from Lewis Elementary. The district also allegedly threatened to permanently bar her from all district property if she continued her advocacy.
The consequences for Allison and her family included missing her son’s graduation because of the trespass order—a moment in her child’s life she will never get back.
No parent should have to choose between speaking up and showing up for their child.
Liberty Justice Center’s PARENTS Initiative is representing Allison in a federal lawsuit challenging the district’s alleged retaliation against her for speaking, petitioning school officials and raising concerns about her children’s education.
The lawsuit alleges that the district retaliated against her for protected speech and advocacy and selectively enforced its harassment policy to silence Allison because officials disagreed with her viewpoints. It also challenges the policy as unconstitutionally vague and overbroad, alleging that it has chilled Allison’s ability to speak, distribute literature and petition public officials about matters affecting her children.
The complaint further challenges Portland Public Schools’ policies regarding gender-identity-related instruction and student social transitions. According to the lawsuit, those policies deny parents advance notice and opt-out opportunities for certain “LGBTQ2SIA+ affirming lessons” and permit schools, in some circumstances, to withhold information about a student’s gender identity from parents.
Allison asked questions. The Constitution protects her right to do so.
The suit seeks declaratory and injunctive relief to protect Allison’s rights to free speech, petition, religious exercise and to direct the upbringing and education of her children.
“Public-school parents have the right to ask questions about what their children are being taught,” said Timothy R. Snowball, Senior Counsel for the Liberty Justice Center’s PARENTS Initiative. “Portland Public Schools cannot use vague harassment policies and trespass threats to punish a mother for peacefully expressing her views and seeking transparency about her children’s education.”
“Beyond the legal issues, the impact on our family has been profound,” said Allison. “Being kept from school events, even missing my son’s graduation, and watching my children navigate important transitions without me there has been among the most painful consequences of this entire experience.”
The PARENTS Initiative is the Liberty Justice Center’s frontline project to defend parents’ rights, challenge government secrecy and protect families from officials who seek to silence them.
Roberts v. Portland Public Schools, et al. was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon on August 12, 2026.
Tim Snowball serves as Senior Counsel at Liberty Justice Center, where he fights to keep government power in check while protecting the individual constitutional rights of Americans.
Katie serves as a Counsel at the Liberty Justice Center.
Tim Kilcullen serves as a staff attorney at the Liberty Justice Center. He has a deep passion for protecting Americans’ fundamental liberties, particularly their right to free speech and a free press.
Portland Native. Parents’ Rights Advocate. Mother.
Allison Roberts is a Portland mother of two.
She and her husband chose to make their home just a few blocks from their children’s elementary school, because their older child’s experience there had been so positive. The family looked forward to many more wonderful years as part of their school community.
But when Allison’s son brought home an “identity flower” assignment asking students to identify and share their gender with the class, she was surprised that she had received no advance notice and no opportunity to excuse him from the lesson.
She did what a concerned parent should be able to do: she asked questions.
Allison sought a meeting with school officials to understand what her son had been taught and why parents had not been notified. She joined the PTA and asked to speak about her concerns, but she was not permitted to do so. After those ordinary avenues failed, she wrote an open letter to other parents and peacefully distributed it from a public sidewalk outside the school.
Instead of engaging with her concerns, Portland Public Schools treated Allison as a threat.
During school pickup, Allison became involved in a heated verbal exchange with another parent who shouted “White people are disgusting!” within earshot of children. Allison responded but she never threatened anyone and walked away. The next morning, police officers arrived at her home and served her with a one-year trespass order barring her from her children’s school. To Allison’s knowledge, the other parent received no comparable trespass order.
The district’s response did more than silence Allison. It separated a mother from her children’s school and robbed her of priceless memories. Because she was barred from the school, Allison missed her son’s fifth-grade graduation.
While other parents were able to celebrate that milestone with their children, Allison was prohibited from attending. All because she asked a question about what her child was learning at school.
No parent should be punished for seeking clarity about their child’s education. Today, Allison is fighting to ensure that no parent has to choose between speaking up for a child and being present in that child’s life.
“I asked ordinary questions about what my son was being taught. Instead of answering me, the district treated me like a threat—and I missed a milestone with my son that neither of us will ever get back.”