Judge rules some Forsyth County Schools policies unconstitutional in lawsuit

A federal judge issued a preliminary ruling in the Mama Bears of Forsyth County lawsuit that found at least some Forsyth County Schools policies unconstitutional, renewing pressure on the district’s rules for public comment and school-library book readings.

The case, filed as Mama Bears of Forsyth County v. McCall and also identified as Mama Bears v. Forsyth County Schools, has focused on the Forsyth County Board of Education’s public participation policy and restrictions tied to reading aloud from school library books at board meetings. Local mothers backed by free-speech advocates brought the challenge, arguing the district had gone too far in limiting what parents and speakers could say in the public forum.

The dispute was already before the court in a hearing on a motion for preliminary injunction on Sept. 20, 2022. In earlier orders, a federal judge told Forsyth County Schools to stop enforcing its ban on reading aloud from school library books at school board meetings. Another ruling said speakers could use profanity, but their comments had to remain “smut-free.”

That history matters for families who show up at board meetings in Cumming. A ruling that policies are unconstitutional can force district leaders to rewrite rules, retrain staff and change how they handle public comment, complaints and challenges to books. It can also affect whether parents, students and advocacy groups can quote from library books or criticize district decisions without running into the same restrictions that prompted the lawsuit.

Forsyth County Schools has also faced scrutiny beyond the courtroom fight over board meetings. On May 19, 2023, the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights issued a Title IX and Title VI resolution agreement and finding letter concerning the district’s book bans and school library censorship. Another dispute over board-meeting conduct left the district paying more than $100,000 in legal fees after it barred mothers from exposing pornographic material during meetings.

The latest preliminary ruling does not end the case, and future hearings or appeals could still define how much of the district’s policy structure survives. For now, the ruling leaves Forsyth County Schools under direct federal pressure to revisit how it regulates speech in one of the county’s most closely watched public institutions.