Central Bucks has settled lawsuit with teacher who said the district punished him for helping a transgender student

The Central Bucks school board voted Tuesday to pay $100,000 to teacher Andrew Burgess — and $325,000 in lawyers’ fees — to settle a lawsuit alleging that the district retaliated against Burgess for helping a transgender student report bullying to federal officials.

The agreement resolves a claim that has been closely tied to allegations Central Bucks discriminated against LGBTQ students: As part of an investigation commissioned by the district that found no evidence of discrimination, lawyers with Duane Morris last year accused Burgess of steering the student to file a federal complaint in 2022, as part of a scheme to paint the then-Republican-led board as unsupportive of LGBTQ students.

But the agreement effectively erases those findings — requiring not only that any references to the Duane Morris report be struck from Burgess’ employment record, but also that Central Bucks remove the Duane Morris report from its website and not distribute it to anyone in the future.

“We are happy to have this dispute behind us and welcome Andrew back to the Central Bucks School District,” Karen Smith, the president of the new Democrat-led board, said during a school board meeting Tuesday. She referred to the pain Burgess “had to endure as the result of the questionable findings about you in the report and public presentation by the Duane Morris law firm.”

The board approved the settlement in a 5-1 vote. Jim Pepper, the only Republican on the board and the lone “no” vote, called the case’s resolution “extremely problematic.”

“I don’t understand how we can settle a case where we have yet to take a single deposition,” said Pepper, a plaintiffs’ lawyer.

Susan Gibson, one of the new Democrats on the board and also a lawyer, said that she shared some of Pepper’s concerns, but that it was “in the fiduciary interest of this district to approve this settlement.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, which represented Burgess, applauded the settlement.

“In the Central Bucks School District, voters made clear their preference for a school board that supports all students and inclusive education,” Mike Lee, executive director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania, said in a statement. “Now, a beloved teacher will be able to resume his career and reclaim his reputation.”

A middle school teacher, Burgess was placed on paid leave in May 2022 after he had submitted the complaint on behalf of the transgender student. He was temporarily reinstated — but assigned to a different school — and placed on paid leave again in April 2023, following the release of the Duane Morris report.

In a statement, Burgess, who is currently on sabbatical, thanked community members for their support, and said he stood “in solidarity with everyone fighting back against this national campaign to harm trans children and intimidate educators.”

The settlement represents the latest cost to Central Bucks in the fight over its treatment of LGBTQ students — an issue that fueled intense interest in the November school board elections.

Central Bucks paid $1.75 million to Duane Morris — after receiving bills an outside lawyer described as “seriously inflated” — to conduct an internal investigation and represent the district with regard to complaints filed with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, including Burgess’ and one filed by the ACLU in October 2022.

The ACLU complaint, filed on behalf of seven LGBTQ students, alleged “a pattern of pervasive and often serious harassment and bullying of LGBTQ+ students in many of the district’s 23 schools.” The complaint accused the district of targeting LGBTQ students — including through the “highly public” suspension of Burgess “for helping a trans student file an OCR complaint.”

Burgess says he was singled out for scrutiny by the district following the ACLU complaint: His laptop was seized, and he was directed to attend a January 2023 interview with Duane Morris, without being told he could bring a lawyer. Before the interview, Burgess didn’t realize his conduct was under investigation.

He filed a lawsuit against the district in April 2023. Nine days later, the school board released Duane Morris’ report. (The Office for Civil Rights has not yet issued any findings.)

The report accused Burgess and Democratic activists of ginning up the allegations — claiming that Burgess had “manipulated” the transgender student and dissuaded the student from reporting the bullying to administrators due to an “ulterior motive.” A union representative, Burgess opposed policies backed by Republican board members restricting library books and barring teacher “advocacy,” including displaying Pride flags in classrooms.

Burgess wanted to force the district to “cave to the inevitable criticism and bad press,” according to the report, which accused the teacher of “colluding” with an activist to support students and parents who protested his suspension during several days of walkouts at Lenape Middle School in May 2022.

Burgess says he never told the transgender student not to go to Central Bucks administrators, but said the student didn’t want to submit a report through the district’s disciplinary system out of fear over what would happen if the bullies’ parents were notified. He says the student’s mother authorized the filing of the complaint.

The Duane Morris report — presented in detail at an April 2023 school board meeting — “slanders Andrew, and the district should not be publicizing it,” said Vic Walzcak, legal director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania. As of Monday, it appeared to be removed from Central Bucks’ website.

Under the agreement, Burgess will receive $100,000 for “emotional distress, pain and suffering.” A share of the $325,000 in lawyers’ fees will go to the LeVan Stapleton Segal Cochran firm, which also represented Burgess but withdrew from the case in August.

Walczak said it wasn’t unusual for lawyers’ fees to exceed awards to plaintiffs in civil rights cases.

“This is about making sure government respects civil rights, and doesn’t violate them,” Walczak said. The agreement, he said, “goes about as far as you can to try to clear [Burgess’] name and try to undo the damage that’s been done.”