An ultra-liberal Brooklyn parent board and the Department of Education are quashing conservative voices by banning “anyone who might push back against their ideological worldview” from public meetings — and even censoring private speech, a new lawsuit says.
Greenpoint and Williamsburg’s Community Education Council 14 has instituted tough speech codes and repeatedly blocked parents — including members of the conservative group Moms for Liberty — from public events, the suit filed in Brooklyn Federal Court Tuesday night claims.
The parent plaintiffs, Deborah Alexander, Maud Maron, and Noah Harlan, claim CEC 14 and Chancellor David Banks have violated their First Amendment rights to free speech and chilled debate.
“The First Amendment does not allow New York City’s Department of Education to function as a Department of Conformity,” the suit says.
The suit demands a court injunction to remove the board’s stranglehold on public discourse and only seeks nominal damages of $17.91 per plaintiff, plus attorney fees.
The suit accuses CEC 14 president Tahj Sutton and its first vice-president Marissa Manzanares of “not tolerating the presence of people who disagree with them,” the court filings revealed.
“Such an approach to life is not unlawful. But Sutton and Manzanares bring this attitude into their roles,” the lawsuit states.
Sutton and Manzaneres have been accused of not allowing people with opposing views to speak at public council meetings and of expelling Alexander in the past, the suit claims.
The plaintiffs have also questioned Sutton and Manzaneres competency as leaders of CEC 14, after witnessing their treatment of speakers who oppose their values and only conducting meetings virtually instead of in-person.
By holding these virtual sessions, the lawsuit states Sutton and Manzaneres exercise editorial control over attendees and accuses them of blocking Harlan and Alexander from registering for these public sessions.
CEC 14 has also been accused of holding a “strongly anti-Israel worldview,” the lawsuit alleged.
They allegedly helped orchestrate and promote a citywide anti-Israel student walkout last November to protest Israel’s retaliation for the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack.
When members of the public criticized CEC 14’s support of an anti-Israel student walkout in November’s council meeting they were cut off and expelled based on their views, the suit claims.
Alexander, Harlan and Maron have also been blocked from the parent board’s X account for their political views, the suit added.
CEC 14’s “Community Guidelines” also contain so-called “Absolute No’s” to govern public comment which provide “vague and overbroad rules” including prohibitions on “any… forms of oppressive beliefs.”
CEC 14 did not immediately return a request for comment.
The suit claims that the DOE, meanwhile, has enforced harsh consequences on individuals with conservative values through Chancellor regulation D-210 complaints.
The regulation allows the DOE to investigate CEC members and remove them from positions.
Maron — who is a CEC 2 board member — has been slapped with two such complaints, the lawsuit says.
The first complaint was in relation to private text messages that occurred outside board meetings in which Maron decried medical transition procedures in children.
At the time, a DOE spokesperson called Maron’s texts “despicable” and “not in line with our values,” according to an article revealing the private messages.
Banks later “threatened to remove Maron for wrongthink,” because of the texts, the suit says.
A second complaint against Maron related to her denouncing a Stuyvesant High School student for writing an anonymous editorial for the school newspaper which she called “revolting Hamas propaganda.”
Maron ran for election to the U.S. House to represent New York’s 10th Congressional District, but lost in the Democratic primary in 2022.
Since then she co-founded PLACE (Parent Leaders for Accelerated Curriculum and Education) and has become a member of the controversial Moms for Liberty group.
Moms for Liberty, founded in early 2021 by two conservative Florida women, quickly expanded its presence across the country and landed national media attention for its efforts to fight COVID safety measures in schools, ban books and limit discussion about race and LGBTQ identities.
The Mom’s for Liberty member now fears a third complaint is incoming after she sponsored a resolution that could lead to the ban of transgender athletes in girls’ sports.
Both PLACE and Moms for Liberty have been condemned by CEC 14 as “hate groups,” the lawsuit adds.
“Parents who dare to challenge the reigning orthodoxy are being investigated, harassed and chased out of elected positions,” Maron told the Post of the D-210 complaints which she fears could push her from her position on the Manhattan education council.
“We should show our children how to engage those with different ideas, not how to silence them.”
The DOE is also investigating Alexander — who is also a member of PLACE — for revealing the school district of her political opponent Gavin Healy’s child. The suit claims the school district was already publicized by the DOE.
Harlan, is not under investigation, but has felt “constrained to watch his words,” the suit says.
“The threat of D-210 complaints being filed against them in retaliation for expressing their political views has chilled Plaintiffs’ expression, causing them to alter their public and even private speech,” the suit says.
“New York City Public Schools are committed to creating safe, welcoming school communities in every neighborhood,” a DOE spokesperson said to The Post when asked a series of questions about the claims in the lawsuits.
“Our Community Education Councils are forums for parent voice, and we expect Council members to respect the rights of the parents and students they serve, as well as adhere to applicable laws, including the state open meetings law. When we receive this complaint, we will review it.”
