Former track and field coach requests reinstatement, expedited hearing in lawsuit against Lake Oswego School District

John Parks, the former Lake Oswego High School track and field coach, demanded that he be reinstated to his position while his lawsuit against the Lake Oswego School District plays out in court.

The motion for preliminary injunction was filed Monday, Oct. 7, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, Portland Division. The motion requests oral arguments and an expedited hearing to review if Parks should lawfully be reinstated to his former position. The motion includes ten declarations from LOHS parents in support of Parks.

The original First Amendment lawsuit, Parks v. Lake Oswego School District, was originally filed on July 24 following his termination at the end of the 2023-24 school year.

The original complaint alleges that the district violated Parks’s First Amendment rights and conducted an unlawful retaliatory investigation and subsequent firing, in violation of his 14th Amendment right to due process.

The district’s investigation came after Parks sent a letter about transgender student-athlete participation to the Oregon School Activities Association in May.

In the letter to OSAA, he expressed his views about rules regarding transgender athletes’ participation in track and field events at the high school level. Specifically, he shared concerns about the future and integrity of female athletics if an “open division” was not created for Oregon’s transgender student-athletes.

Parks is represented by Liberty Justice Center, a national public interest law firm based out of Austin, Texas.

“A big part of the misconception is if you're a public employee, like coach Parks, a teacher, or whatever the case may be, that somehow you lose your constitutional right to speak out as a private citizen,” said Buck Dougherty, senior counsel at the Liberty Justice Center. “I think that's the biggest problem or misconception that a lot of government employers have. They think that just because someone is a public employee that somehow they have forfeited their constitutional rights and that's not the case.”

The Lake Oswego School District does not comment on ongoing litigation. Attorneys for LOSD have 21 days to respond to the motion.