Two teachers fired for opposing their school district’s policy allowing trans-identified students to use bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond to their stated gender identity, as opposed to their sex, have reached a $650,000 settlement with their former employer.

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In a statement Friday, the conservative nonprofit legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom announced that Oregon teachers Rachel Sager and Katie Medart settled with the Grants Pass School District following their 2021 termination for participating in the “I Resolve” campaign.

The campaign sought to establish an alternative to the school district’s recently implemented “Gender Identity, Transgender, Name, and Pronoun Guidance.”

The policy in question states that “the District will not prohibit students from accessing restrooms, locker rooms or other facilities which may be separated by gender, that are associated with the student’s preferred gender identity.”

The “I Resolve” campaign, established by the teachers, featured a video of the educators floating “alternative proposals regarding students’ preferred pronouns and names as well as restroom use” that was uploaded to YouTube.

Sager, an assistant principal in the district, and Medart, who taught health and science, faced complaints from other staff over their work on the campaign. Their detractors maintained that Sager and Medart violated the school district’s prohibition on engaging in political speech using its resources or during working time.

The teachers were placed on administrative leave and terminated following the conclusion of an investigation that determined that they had violated school district policies. In the fall of 2021, the teachers were reinstated to positions at an online school in the district, which resulted in significantly reduced day-to-day interactions with students compared to their previous roles.

Sager and Medart filed a lawsuit against the school district, alleging that its actions violated their rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution as well as Article I, Section 8 of the Oregon Constitution and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The settlement, which covers the costs of damages and attorneys’ fees, comes five months after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court ruling that had rejected the teachers’ request for First Amendment damages.

The federal appellate court found that the school district unconstitutionally violated the teachers’ rights under the U.S. Constitution by engaging in content and viewpoint-based discrimination as well as their rights under Title VII by terminating them for their “biblically-based views on gender and sexuality.” The three-judge panel remanded the case to the lower court for further proceedings.

Matthew Hoffman, senior counsel for ADF, which represented the teachers in the litigation along with the Pacific Justice Institute, praised the latest development in the case.

“Educators are free to express opinions on fundamental issues of public concern — like gender identity education policy — that implicate the freedoms of teachers, parents, and students,” Hoffman said. “The Grants Pass School District is taking the right step by acknowledging that teachers don’t give up their First Amendment rights when they set foot on school property. Public schools can’t retaliate against speech simply because they disagree with what’s said.”

In addition to monetary damages, the terms of last week’s settlement include the school district agreeing to issue a “public statement acknowledging that the educators’ wrongful termination fell short of its standards and responsibilities” as well as writing positive letters of recommendation to help them find new employment, removing negative references from their personnel files and revising the relevant policy to comply with the First Amendment.

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This article was originally published at The Christian Post. Photo Credit: Chalirmpoj Pimpisarn/Getty Images via Canva Teams.