PORTLAND, Ore. | August 13, 2026 —The Liberty Justice Center’s PARENTS Initiative filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Portland mother Allison Roberts against Portland Public Schools, Senior Director of Schools Chandra Wilson-Cooper and Lewis Meriwether Elementary School Principal Deanne Froehlich.
The lawsuit alleges that district officials retaliated against Roberts for criticizing school policies and curriculum related to gender identity, including by issuing a one-year trespass order barring her from her children’s elementary school, publicly labeling her speech as harassment and hate speech and threatening to permanently bar her from all Portland Public Schools properties.
Roberts is the mother of two Portland Public Schools students, and because of her religious beliefs she opposes schools introducing children to contested gender-identity concepts without informing parents or providing an opportunity to opt out.
Roberts became concerned after Lewis Elementary added an intersex-inclusive Progress Pride Flag to school benches and her 11-year-old child received an “identity flower” assignment asking students to identify and discuss their gender. Roberts alleges that she received no prior notice of the assignment and no opportunity to excuse her child from it.
After Roberts sought information from school officials and distributed letters to fellow parents from a public sidewalk outside the school, Portland Public Schools allegedly issued a trespass order against her and began treating her protected speech as harassment. The complaint alleges that Roberts’ advocacy was peaceful, conducted outside of school property and directed at matters of public concern involving her children’s school.
“Parents have a constitutional right to speak out about their children’s education—especially when they are asking for transparency about what their children are being taught,” said Timothy R. Snowball, Senior Counsel for the Liberty Justice Center’s PARENTS Initiative. “Government officials cannot silence a parent simply because they dislike her views.”
The lawsuit also challenges Portland Public Schools’ harassment policy as unconstitutionally vague and overbroad. Roberts alleges that district officials have failed to explain what speech or conduct violates the policy while using it to threaten her with a permanent trespass order barring her from all district property.
In addition, the lawsuit challenges the district’s nondisclosure policies concerning gender-identity-related lessons and students’ social transitions. The complaint alleges that these policies deny parents notice and opt-out opportunities for certain lessons and may permit school officials to withhold information about a child’s gender identity from the child’s parents.
“One of the most painful parts of this experience has been missing the milestones every parent hopes to share with their children,” said Allison Roberts. “Because of the trespass order, I have been excluded from elementary school events, missing my son’s graduation and losing irreplaceable moments with both of my children. It has been heartbreaking. These are memories our family can never get back.”
The PARENTS Initiative—short for Parental Action and Rights Enforcement to ensure Notice, Transparency and Safety—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.
The lawsuit seeks declaratory and injunctive relief preventing Portland Public Schools from enforcing the challenged policies against Roberts or retaliating further against her for exercising her constitutional rights.
Roberts v. Portland Public Schools, et al. was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon on August 12, 2026. The complaint is available here.
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