FIRST ON FOX: State education agencies in Vermont have paid over $566,000 in damages and legal fees to a Christian school that was banned from all sports and academic competitions for two years after its girls’ basketball team refused to compete against a trans athlete in 2023.A settlement agreement following mediation was finalized on Tuesday that awarded the plaintiffs, including the Mid Vermont Christian School and its law firm Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the $566,000. Fox News Digital reached out to the Vermont Principals’ Association and the Vermont State Board of Education for a response.CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COMThe settlement comes after a years-long saga in which all the school’s sports teams, and even its academic teams, like spelling bee and mathletes, had to travel out of state to compete against other schools.The conflict dates back to an afternoon early in the 2023 school year at Mid Vermont Christian, when the school decided to forfeit a girls’ basketball postseason game against a team with a trans athlete.Their Christian faith was more important to them than a game. But it was still a hard call, and it brought some tears.”We were all in agreement that the right decision was to not compromise our beliefs and to withdraw, but the conversation with the players was the hardest,” Mid Vermont Christian girls’ basketball coach Chris Goodwin told Fox News Digital.”Because you play a 20-game season, and you put in the work and the expectation is that you enter the postseason tournament with a shot to see how you’re going to do and to see how far you can get. So there were some teary eyes, and some sad faces, but in the end, they all really did understand that it was the right thing to do.”But it was about to get much harder for not just the team, but for the entire school of about 111 students.Within days of the forfeit, they learned the consequences escalated far beyond a single game. The Vermont Principals’ Association banned the school, not just from basketball, but from all athletics and a range of academic competitions.”Almost immediately… they came out very strongly,” Goodwin said. “We were going to be banned from all athletic competition in the state… and then on top of that… science fairs and spelling bees.”What followed was not a single lost season, but years of dislocation. The school was forced to arrange competitions with schools out of state just to make sure their extracurricular programs could continue.Instead of short bus rides to nearby schools, teams traveled hours across state lines. Familiar rivalries disappeared. Home gyms sat quieter.”The travel is probably triple,” Goodwin said. “You’re getting back at 10 o’clock at night… kids trying to do homework. I don’t want to say there’s a nightmare, but it was difficult.”Along the way, Goodwin said there were teams he coached that had the potential to win the state championship, but never got the chance.”You know, the hard part
Vermont pays $566K in damages, legal fees to Christian school it banned from all sports competitions for years
