A California school district has agreed to pay a former teacher $360,000 after the teacher refused to use a student’s preferred pronouns because of her religious beliefs. In her lawsuit, the teacher also took issue with student gender identity policies that kept her from communicating with parents about a student’s chosen gender.

The lawsuit was filed last May after former Jurupa Unified School District teacher Jessica Tapia said she was fired because of her decision not to use a student’s preferred pronoun. Tapia argued in her lawsuit that the district’s decision to fire her after a back-and-forth with the board was a direct violation of her First Amendment rights.

Tapia was a former physical education teacher at the district’s Jurupa Valley High School. During the 2021-2022 school year, she was put on administrative leave after posts on her personal Instagram account were brought to the attention of the school district. On her Instagram account, she shared a post that the school called “racist, offensive, disrespectful, and mocking towards individuals based upon their sexual orientation.”

The social media post snowballed into accusations made by the district that said Tapia was “proselytizing during P.E. class” and that she was refusing to call students by their preferred pronouns.

Her lawsuit shared that in 2022, the district handed down a “Notice of Unprofessional Conduct” to Tapia. In this notice, the school listed a set of directives she needed to follow in order to keep her job. Among these directives were to use a student’s preferred pronouns and allow students to use the bathroom that matched their gender identity. Another directive mentioned that she would not be allowed to engage in discussions about the bible with her students.

Her lawsuit argued that as a result of the directive, she suffered “mental and emotional anguish because she was torn between agreeing to conditions that caused her to violate her religious beliefs or losing the job she worked her entire life for.”

In response to the Notice, Tapia wrote her own letter to the school district detailing her inability to comply with the directives because some of them violated her faith. In her letter, she asked if she could work around some of the directives including calling students by their name on the roster in place of their preferred pronouns. The school responded to Tapia explaining that they could not accommodate her requests without “violating California and federal law.”

Ultimately, her lawsuit resulted in a settlement in favor of Tapia. After both parties agreed to the $360,000 settlement, Tapia’s attorney Julianne Fleischer shared in a press release, “Today’s settlement serves as a reminder that religious freedom is protected, no matter your career.”

Tapia also added in the release, “What happened to me can happen to anybody, and I want the next teacher to know that it is worth it to take a stand for what is right.”

The school district did not agree to any wrongdoing but a spokesperson for the school district, Jacqueline Paul, shared a statement that read in part, “The decision to settle this case was made in conjunction with the District’s self-insurance authority and in the best interest of the students, such that the District can continue to dedicate all of its resources and efforts to educate and support its student population regardless of their protected class.”