Lawsuit against Cobb Schools gains new Plaintiff in transgender student

A transgender student in Cobb County Schools, referred to as “A.A.” in court documents, has joined Katie Rinderle in a federal discrimination lawsuit against the district. Initially filed in February by Rinderle, a former Due West Elementary teacher fired in 2023 for reading a book about a nonbinary child to her students, the lawsuit now includes other plaintiffs such as another Cobb teacher and the Georgia Association of Educators. The complaint was amended in May to add A.A. and the Georgia Youth Justice Coalition for Action, which claims 187 student members in Cobb Schools.

Rinderle’s termination by Superintendent Chris Ragsdale and the school board in 2023 was due to her reading “My Shadow is Purple” to a group of fifth graders. The book, described on Amazon as an inspiring story about moving beyond the gender binary, was purchased at a Scholastic Book Fair held at the school in February 2023. After nine out of fifteen students voted for it as the “community read-aloud” book, Rinderle read it to them. Her termination was upheld by the Georgia Board of Education in February, and she has appealed this decision to Cobb Superior Court. Michael Tafelski, a lawyer with the Southern Poverty Law Center representing Rinderle, expects oral arguments for the appeal to begin by the end of the calendar year.

Although A.A. was not one of the students who participated in the reading, she was a Due West student at the time and had been in Rinderle’s class in second and fourth grades. A.A. socially transitioned from male to female during this time, with Rinderle providing significant emotional support and advocacy. The amended complaint states that Rinderle’s support was crucial as A.A. faced hurtful and isolating reactions from peers, including access to the staff bathroom and indoor recess in Rinderle’s classroom.

The lawsuit argues that the district’s “vague censorship policies,” enacted after the 2022 Protecting Students First Act and the Parents Bill of Rights, led to Rinderle’s firing and broader discrimination. The suit claims these policies have caused “stress, terror and heartbreak” and cites the district’s ban on many books focused on LGBTQ+ themes, which Ragsdale has described as a “battle between good and evil.”

The amended complaint now targets Ragsdale, the school board’s four Republican members, and Chris Dowd, the district’s executive director for employee relations, not only in their official capacities but also as individuals.