MARTINSBURG – Two Jefferson County school bus drivers have sued the county school superintendent after they were suspended for attending the rally last week that led to the storming of the U.S. Capitol.
Tina Renner and Pamela McDonald filed their lawsuit January 11 in U.S. District Court against Dr. Bondy Shay Gibson.
According to their complaint, Renner and McDonald are supporters of President Trump who rode on a bus chartered by the Frederick County (Maryland) Conservative Club to attend the January 6 rally in Washington, D.C.
Bryan
They say they were dropped off at the Holocaust Museum in Washington around 10:30 a.m. They walked to the Washington Monument on the National Mall to hear Trump speak to supporters.
“Five or six of the women walked together and watched President Trump’s speech on a big TV,” John H. Bryan, the attorney for the women, told The West Virginia Record. “They walked to the Reflecting Pool at the National Mall. One of the women was tired and cold, so she ended up sitting on some steps at the reflective pool. The other walked a little closer to the U.S. Capitol, but neither one of them was that close to the Capitol.”
The complaint says Renner, McDonald and three other women later walked about 1.5 miles to the Capitol.
“They did not cross any barricades or barriers and at all times remained in the area designated for public occupation,” the complaint states. “Plaintiffs arrived at the steps immediately in front of the Reflecting Pool to the West of the Capitol at approximately 1:10 p.m.
“Plaintiff Tina Renner and one other woman then sat on the steps of the Reflecting Pool, due to being cold and tired, and waited while the others walked closer toward the Capitol. …
“Plaintiff Pamela McDonald and the other women walked some distance closer to the Capitol building. They never crossed any barricades or into any prohibited areas, where they observed the large crowd and the rally taking place. They observed no violence nor destruction of property. The crowd was entirely peaceful from their point of view.”
McDonald and the other women then walked back to the Reflecting Pool, meeting back up with Renner and the other woman. Together, they all went back to the Holocaust Museum and boarded the bus and left D.C. around 3:45 p.m.
Renner and McDonald say they didn’t witness violence or destruction.
“They only experienced and participated in a peaceful protest and political rally for President Trump, who spoke at the rally,” the complaint states. “They did not witness, nor did they participate in, the lawless actions which occurred that day closer to, and within, the Capitol building. …
“They were among the thousands upon thousands of peaceful protestors and rally participants that day who exercised their First Amendment protected speech in support of President Trump.”
The lawsuit calls Gibson “a known anti-Trump, left-wing activist” who instructed school employees to engage in surveillance of the social media accounts of Jefferson County Schools employees to see if any of them attended the rally.
The next day, both women say they received a phone call from Director of Transportation J.R. Hollen informing them they would be placed on administrative leave and to not show up for work January 11 because of their presence at the rally. He also told them not to discuss the phone call with anyone.
The following day, both women also received letters from Gibson essentially saying the same thing and informing them of meetings with her scheduled for January 12.
In the letters sent to Renner and McDonald, Gibson suspended them with pay and said they could face termination. They were told they could bring a representative with them to meetings. In the letters, Gibson said the board had video of the employees attending the January 6 rally at the U.S. Capitol.
In the letters, Gibson said the employees had been tagged in a social media post labeled as threatening and demeaning aimed at federal government employees. She says Renner also failed to report her absence from work that day.
According to Bryan, McDonald had her meeting with Gibson on January 12. Renner's is scheduled for January 13.
"The first of my two clients in the federal civil rights lawsuit filed yesterday against the superintendent of Jefferson County Schools had her disciplinary hearing today, where the 'evidence' was presented of her alleged involvement in the violence at the U.S. Capitol last Wednesday," Bryan posted. "Apparently the only evidence presented was a conspicuously-absent anonymous 'report.' According to the attorney at the scene, Bondy Gibson, the superintendent who leveled the accusations, refused to provide a copy of the allegations, the name of the person making the allegation or any of the social media posts the individual referenced.
"Apparently, what actually happened, is that the board office reviewed Pam McDonald’s social media page and came to the same conclusion that all have, which is that Pam did nothing wrong and broke no laws. Unfortunately, however, the damage has already been done, and our lawsuit will continue. ...
"If the goal was to drag these ladies through the mud, merely for their political affiliation and viewpoints, I guess it was a job well-done. They received all sorts of well-wishes from the tolerant and compassionate commenters among us."
In the complaint, Renner and McDonald also say Gibson took no sort of disciplinary action against teacher Grant H. Prillaman, who “occupied” Senator Joe Manchin’s office at the U.S. Capitol on February 14, 2019, with other “left-wing protestors” and who was arrested by Capitol Police for blocking doors and hallways.
“The reason (Gibson) did not do so to Prillaman is because she agrees with Prillaman’s left-wing politics and activism, whereas she does not personally agree with the plaintiffs’ support of President Donald Trump,” the complaint states, adding that Gibson or her employees “leaked” the story of the allegations against the women to local media outlets.
Renner and McDonald accuse Gibson of a civil rights violation of First Amendment retaliation. They say their right to take part in an in-person protest is a protected First Amendment activity and that they were wrongly suspended for attending a protest wholly unrelated to their employment.
“On Friday, January 8, 2021, the Superintendent of Jefferson County Schools was made aware that at least two employees were in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021, to protest the joint session of the United States Congress to Count the Electoral Vote,” the school system said in a statement. “Jefferson County Schools fully supports the rights of employees and students to exercise their First Amendment freedoms, including the right to peaceably assemble and to petition the Government, but Wednesday’s protests involved violence and other unlawful conduct.”
The Jefferson County Republican Executive Committee issued a statement seeking Gibson’s suspension.
“On behalf of all Jefferson County Republicans, the JCREC is requesting that the Board of Education immediately cease the violation of the Constitutional rights of the BOE’s employees, students, and the citizens of Jefferson County,” the statement said. “We are further requesting that Dr. Gibson be suspended pending an investigation of her actions. Dr. Gibson is entitled to be a Democratic activist; however, if it is determined that Dr. Gibson has violated the law then she must be terminated from her position as superintendent.”
Bryan said he feels confident about the case.
“From what I can tell, I don’t think they have anything to worry about,” he told The Record. “It sounds like that whole county is coalescing behind them. The reason we only sued the superintendent first is because she’s the only one who’s done anything.
“If the school board wants to vote to validate what she’s done or try to fire them, then we’ll sue the county as well. But, it sounds like everybody is against this except these activists type. She’s convinced everyone there was part of the violence.
She’s trying to purge anybody who was there. She doesn’t realize the unintended consequences or the hypocrisy.”
Renner and McDonald seek compensatory damages as well as court costs and attorney fees.
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Gina Groh.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia case number 3:21-cv-5