Vermont school district settles lawsuit over coach’s suspension related to trans athlete

BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A Vermont school district will reinstate a coach who was suspended after he misgendered a female transgender athlete. Travis Allen is the middle school girls’ soccer coach at the Randolph Union Middle/High School. He and his daughter Blake, who was also suspended, sued the Orange Southwest School District, claiming their First Amendment rights were violated. The Vermont School Board’s Insurance Trust will pay $125,000 in damages and legal costs to the family’s attorneys, Alliance Defending Freedom. The district also has agreed to delete from the daughter’s school records any reference to investigations of her for alleged harassment, hazing and bullying. She and the transgender student both played on the same Randolph Union High School volleyball team.