Fired Colorado school dean sues Elizabeth School District after banned books returned to shelves

A Colorado middle school dean, who was allegedly fired for refusing to comply with a school district's attempt to ban 19 books from school libraries, is suing the district. She alleges that the firing of one of the only Black district employees was racially motivated and part of an effort to "silence" her and her criticism of the attempted ban.

LeEllen Condry was hired by the Elizabeth School District as the dean of students at Elizabeth Middle School in June 2024 and fired on Aug. 27, 2024, the day after school district officials read her concerns about the proposed ban, feedback to which the district sought from the community and employees, court records show.

The attempted ban in 2024 sparked widespread criticism from civil rights groups, including the ACLU, the NAACP of Colorado, Montana, and Wyoming, and the Authors' Guild, and prompted a separate lawsuit. A U.S. district judge ordered the books returned to shelves in April, and after a temporary pause, a federal appeals court affirmed that ruling in May.

Condry and her attorneys characterized the attempt to ban the books as "explicitly racist, sexist, homophobic, and transphobic," in s 24-page federal lawsuit filed on Sunday.

"It is time to end corruption, racism, and discrimination in the Elizabeth School District," Condry said in a statement, through her attorneys, on Monday. "It is now my time to take back my voice that was once silenced, and to speak up against the dishonest leadership that uses its power to erase the voices of diverse groups of people."

"The Book Ban targeted authors and subjects that spoke to the real experiences of Black folks, women, and LGBT individuals, and that accurately told their history of oppression in this country," the lawsuit reads, in part.

After the publication of this article, Elizabeth Schools Superintendent Dan Snowberger said Condry was fired because of her licensing and for cost-savings, and that the school district intends to fight the claims.

"The employee's claims are not new and are part of a broader effort by the ACLU to attack the district because of a few decisions a vocal minority disagrees with," he said. "The district has and will continue to defend itself in federal court from outside interests attempting to strong-arm the district's elected board-a board that was overly retained by the voters a few short weeks ago. The district intends to defend itself in court, and the facts will show that the individual's employment ended because she failed to take the steps to secure the necessary licensure for the position, and because the position was one of several eliminated for cost-saving reasons during a fiscal exigency."

Unlike the initial lawsuit regarding the book ban itself, the ACLU is not representing Condry in this suit; Newman | McNulty LLC, of Denver, is.

The books in question included:

1. "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas
2. "Beloved" by Toni Morrison
3. "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison
4. "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini  
5. "You Should See Me in a Crown" by Leah Johnson 
6. "#Pride: Championing LGBTQ Rights" by Rebecca Felix 
7. "George" (now published and referred to as "Melissa") by Alex Gino 
8. "It's Your World—If You Don't Like It, Change It" by Mikki Halpin
9. "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky 
10. "Thirteen Reasons Why" by Jay Asher 
11. "Looking for Alaska" by John Green 
12. "Nineteen Minutes" by Jodi Picoult 
13. "Crank" by Ellen Hopkins 
14. "Glass" by Ellen Hopkins 
15. "Fallout" by Ellen Hopkins
16. "Identical" by Ellen Hopkins 
17. "Burned" by Ellen Hopkins 
18. "Smoke" by Ellen Hopkins
19. "Redwood and Ponytail" by K.A. Holt

The case was assigned to a judge on Monday, but a hearing has not yet been scheduled, court records show.

Elizabeth is about 45 miles southeast of Denver and about 15 miles east of Castle Rock.