Central Bucks reaches settlement with suspended teacher in LGBTQ probe

The Central Bucks School board will vote on a proposed settlement with a district middle school teacher who alleged he was suspended twice as part of retaliation for advocating for students who identify as part of the LGBTQ community.

The motion to approve a settlement reached for social studies teacher Andrew Burgess appears on the board's Tuesday meeting agenda, but it did not include any details of the agreement reached.

Next month marks one year since Burgess was indefinitely suspended for allegedly violating a district policy when district officials said he failed to report alleged bullying to his school principal and instead filed a discrimination complaint  on behalf of the student with the U.S. Department of Education.

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Burgess, who most recently taught at Unami Middle School, and the district have been locked in a legal battle since last April when he sued the district and former Superintendent Abram Lucabaugh for violating his civil rights when officials suspended him in 2022.

He filed his lawsuit in the U.S. Eastern District Court a week before the district released its  controversial $1.75 million internal investigation, which concluded that there was no evidence that the district created a hostile environment for students who  identify as LGBTQ+ or that it discriminated against those students and staff.

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The report prepared by Duane Morris LLP blamed the ongoing U.S. Education’s Office of Civil Rights investigations into LGBTQ discrimination in the district on the actions of Burgess, current board President Karen Smith and other “Democrat activists.”  Smith at the time was one of three minority party members of the board.

The recommendations included suspending Burgess a second time without pay. The board did suspend him again, but with pay the day after the April 20, 2023 report presentation.

Burgess was suspended with pay for three months in 2022 after he says the district learned he helped a bullied student file a complaint with the OCR. He alleged the initial and subsequent suspensions and other actions under the previous GOP-majority board were retaliatory against him.

Duane Morris contended that Burgess manipulated two students to report allegations of anti-LGBTQ bullying and harassment to him, not the school administration.

The report also accused Burgess of using his position as a teacher’s union vice president to interfere between teachers and a school principal over district efforts to review the appropriateness of “certain” books in classroom libraries.

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Central Bucks, middle school teacher reach settlement in retaliation suit