ACLJ LAWSUIT: Nevada Public School Forces Child To Perform Pornographic Script, Lies to Parents, and Bans Mom From Reading Script to School Board

Parents are increasingly being targeted and attacked – even labeled as terrorists – for protecting the rights of their children in school settings, but what is happening to the kids is even worse.

A student in a Las Vegas area school district was forced to perform a profanity-laced, sexually explicit, and obscene monologue before the entire class as a graded assignment. School officials then lied to the parents. Finally, the school board banned the student’s mom from even reading to them the words her 15-year-old daughter had been forced to say in front of her class. We’re taking legal action today to fight back.

Public schools are entrusted with millions of children across the United States; and we would expect that, at a minimum, they would not sexualize our children in the name of education. Unfortunately, however, Nevada’s Clark County School District (CCSD) violated its duty to our clients, Candra and Terrell Evans, when a teacher required their child to perform a sexually explicit and obscene monologue for a graded assignment. The ACLJ has stepped in to protect this family against a rogue school district who thinks they are above the law.

In March of 2022, our clients’ 15-year-old daughter, who will be referred to as R.E., was required to perform a sexually explicit monologue prepared by another student before the entire class. The monologue – which many will find offensive – is below (edited by our attorneys by adding ***):

I don’t love you. It’s not you, it’s just (looks down) your d***. I don’t like your d*** or any d*** in that case. [Only the first two sentences of the script are included due to the progressively increasing profanity and description of sexual acts. The entire explicit monologue can be found here.]

Shockingly, the school’s drama teacher claims to have edited the pornographic monologue from the original draft and admitted that it was far more obscene before she cleaned it up. The teacher never informed the parents nor sought permission to expose their daughter to such sexual material.

The students were told to pick up a folded script from a pile, blindly, and could only reject a script one time with no exceptions. Unfortunately, R.E. had already put back the first script she picked up because it was from a male perspective. So, when she picked up this second monologue, she was required to read it – and could not object. She had no choice, and she trusted that the teacher, who had edited it, wouldn’t make her read something inappropriate. She also did not understand some of the sexual content of the script and knew her grade depended on performing the pornographic monologue.

Upon learning about the monologue, our client Candra, the student’s mom, went to the school by herself, as her husband, Terrell, was on military deployment protecting our nation. The assistant principal agreed that what the teacher had done was inexcusable. The school administration told our clients that school officials would meet with the student and that the school would not allow any male faculty to meet with R.E. without another female present. In addition, the school promised that they would also not allow the teacher who gave the assignment to meet with R.E.

However, right after making this promise, the assistant principal (a man) met with R.E. alone without another female administrator present. Additionally, the school forced R.E. to meet with the teacher in question, one on one, again breaking their promise. This meeting left R.E. in tears. To make matters even worse, the principal instructed R.E. not to tell her parents about her meeting with the teacher. Of course, R.E. told her parents anyway.

Finding the school unresponsive to her requests and complaints, our client, upon the recommendation of a school superintendent, filed a complaint with the school police and went to a CCSD School Board meeting to voice her concerns. However, when the mother tried to tell the school board about the sexually explicit monologue her daughter had been forced to perform before her entire class, the school board shut off our client’s mic while she was reading the monologue and told her the assignment was too explicit to be read in public.

The school district was fine having a minor child read the script in class in front of other minor children in class, but it was too obscene for the school board? Outrageous!

CCSD and school officials continually lied and misinformed our clients and the public about their actions. Not only do parents have a right and duty to direct their children’s education and upbringing, but that right is also in peril when teachers and school administrators are neither constrained by their official policy nor promises to protect the children with whom they are entrusted.

CCSD violated R.E.’s First Amendment rights by compelling her, a minor, to read a monologue that is sexual and obscene. But they decided to go a step further and violate Candra’s First Amendment right to speak when they refused to let her read the same monologue they made her daughter read in front of her class.

Moreover, the state of Nevada recognizes the parental right to direct the sexual education of their children, including material relating to the “human reproductive system . . . and sexual responsibility.” NRS 389.036. In order to educate children on sexual topics, the state requires several levels of approval to be obtained by the parents, along with special qualifications for each teacher.

The ACLJ has stepped in alongside Lex Tecnica Ltd. (a firm committed to protecting students, parents, and teachers from CCSD) to represent this family in a lawsuit against CCSD to protect their rights. The ACLJ has always been at the forefront of constitutional and parental rights, and we took on this case because schools must be held accountable when they abuse their power and sexualize children. Today we filed an amended complaint against the CCSD and look forward to litigating this case in court.

The ACLJ is ready and willing to go to battle to protect children in the public school system. If you or anyone you love is facing a similar situation, reach out to the ACLJ at ACLJ.org/help.