VIRGINIA — A federal appeals court reinstated a former Rock Ridge School Board member’s lawsuit against the district and its Board chair Thursday, March 13.
Pollyann Sorcan, 71, is a longtime Board member of Rock Ridge and Eveleth-Gilbert. She sued in 2023, alleging the Board had violated her First Amendment rights by removing her from committees two years prior.
The Board said Sorcan undermined the district’s mission and failed to respect policies and data privacy laws. Sorcan said the action was in retaliation to her engaging in protected speech.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sent the case back for further proceedings, saying a lower court improperly dismissed it last year. The District Court had granted the school district’s motion to dismiss, determining then-Board Chair Bill Addy was legislatively immune and Sorcan had failed to identify a “persistent pattern of unconstitutional misconduct” by the district.
In its Thursday opinion, the appeals court said Addy was sued in his official capacity as Board chair and thus not entitled to individual legislative immunity. It also said the District Court was wrong to require Sorcan to identify a pattern of misconduct and instead opined she only had to show the Board’s decision resulted in a constitutional violation.
The appeals court did not weigh in on the merits of the case.
In a Thursday news release, Sorcan’s representation, the Upper Midwest Law Center said Sorcan was originally censured for “questioning board policies and decisions, raising concerns about school finances, and speaking up for community free speech.”
Senior Counsel James Dickey called the appeals court’s decision a “decisive win for free speech and a clear warning to government officials.”
“I stood up for what I believed was right, and the school board tried to punish me for it,” Sorcan said in the release. “I’m grateful for this victory at this stage — not just for myself, but for everyone who believes in holding our institutions accountable. I look forward to winning the case.”
In a separate release, Superintendent Noel Schmidt said the district will “vigorously defend” itself against the “wasteful lawsuit.”
"The district and its insurer ... look forward to moving past the immunity arguments and defending the First Amendment rights of board members to censure a member for clear misconduct,” Schmidt wrote, noting the appeals court decision did not have to do with the merits of the case.
The Rock Ridge School Board separately removed Sorcan in November, citing the prioritization of personal interest and undermining Board decisions. Schmidt said that action was not related to this lawsuit.
An independent investigation found Sorcan attempted to overturn or help others overturn the Board’s decision to demolish old school buildings. It also found she violated data privacy rules by forwarding hundreds of emails from her school email account to her private one.
Sorcan is running in the April 8 special election to fill the seat she was “unjustly” removed from.
“With re-instatement I would continue to look out for the best interests of the students, communities, and taxpayers as I have done over the past 40-plus years for three different school districts, both in and outside of office,” Sorcan said in her submission to KAXE’s Election Guide.
