The documents from Township High School District 113’s settlement agreement with teacher Britnee Kenyon have been released, revealing that the district will pay $200,000 to settle a lawsuit over the district’s actions following a 2023 social media post she shared criticizing the Israeli army.
The board voted to approve the settlement agreement during a well-attended meeting last month, which saw impassioned comments from numerous students defending the theater director, as well as a tearful denunciation from one parent of Kenyon.
As part of the agreement, the board denies all allegations of unlawful conduct, as does Kenyon. She will also be reimbursed $6,665 for fees she paid to ADR Systems Inc. in connection with the mediation, and will be credited 42 days of sick leave.
Kenyon, who is Jewish, is the theater director at Deerfield High School. In 2023, she shared a post from American author Ibram X. Kendi regarding the Israel-Hamas War, in which Kendi criticized the Israeli military for what he described as ethnic cleansing and a “crime against humanity … against history.”
The post drew extensive backlash from some community parents, and days after her post then-board President Daniel Struck put out a statement to the community referencing Kenyon’s post, saying it “implicitly disparages the personal beliefs and human decency of a substantial portion of our student body.”
Kenyon was given a written reprimand in January of 2024 for her social media posts, which according to court documents also included allegations of inappropriate online behavior.
According to court documents, which included communications with students on Snapchat, personal photos on her social media deemed inappropriate — such as images of Kenyon smoking, wearing a bathing suit, or in bed — and a photo caption in which Kenyon shared her experience with sexual assault as a teen.
Struck would later resign in February of 2024 in relation to the growing controversy, and Kenyon filed the lawsuit last year against the district alleging, among other counts, that it had violated her First Amendment rights and that Struck’s letter constituted defamation against her.
Legal saga continues
While Highland Park-based District 113 has settled, the legal saga isn’t necessarily over. Another defendant, district parent Michelle Hammer Bernstein, was not part of the settlement agreement, and according to court documents still faces counts of defamation, false-light invasion of privacy and tortious interference with contractual relations for a series of posts and statements online criticizing Kenyon and allegedly pushing for her removal from the district.
Bernstein is being represented by the American Center for Law and Justice, a conservative Christian legal organization. The ACLJ, in news releases and court documents, says that Bernstein was practicing her First Amendment rights when she shared Kenyon’s posts online, said Kenyon’s post had “slandered” Israel, and later called Kenyon antisemitic.
“Our client simply shared the teacher’s post, expressed her concern about the comments, and encouraged parents to contact school district officials if they shared the same concerns,” an ACLJ news release said.
ACLJ framed the case as retaliation against a parent attempting to “engage school leaders and express their opinions concerning, among other things, teacher conduct and the improper indoctrination of students.”
