The ACLU of Alabama on Tuesday filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of two women arrested during a Chambers County School Board meeting in 2023, alleging that the board, City of Valley, multiple officials and police officers violated their constitutional rights and the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The lawsuit also claims that the arrests of Yolanda Ratchford and Tytianna Smith were part of a pattern of behavior by school board and Valley officials meant to silence dissent during a tumultuous time.
“These women were exercising their most basic constitutional rights—freedom of speech and peaceful protest—and they were punished for it,” said Alison Mollman, Legal Director at the ACLU of Alabama.
The arrests of Ratchford and Smith came during a school board meeting during a period when the Chambers Board was deciding to close high schools in majority-white Valley and majority-Black LaFayette and consolidate into one school, which would be located in Valley. Parents and school employees in LaFayette were unhappy with the placement of the school and believed they were being unfairly displaced.
A video of the meeting at which the arrests took place is available online. It shows Smith entering the meeting shortly after it began and taking a seat on the floor. When an officer asks her to sit in a chair, a brief argument ensues, but ultimately Smith agrees to move to a chair.
At that point, both she and Ratchford, who is wheelchair bound, take out sheets of paper that have a photocopied image of late-Rep. John Lewis and the words, “Be Hopeful. Be Optimistic. Get in Good Trouble,” written on them. The officer tells them to put their signs away and that there is a rule against having signs in school board meetings.
Smith tells the officer that they are not signs, but regular pieces of paper. The officer tells her that she is disturbing the meeting. When Smith asks if they are breaking the law, the officer replies that they are being disorderly.
A short time later, with little other discussion or actions, Smith and Ratchford were arrested for disorderly conduct.
They were acquitted of the charges in court in 2024, with the presiding judge stating that if anyone had engaged in disorderly conduct, it was the officer who arrested them, according to the ACLU.
The lawsuit filed Tuesday claims Chambers County and Valley officials violated the plaintiffs’ fourth and fifth amendment rights and participated in an orchestrated effort to silence protest.
“This case isn’t just about two leaders who were wrongfully arrested,” added Mollman. “It’s about whether public officials can weaponize law enforcement to silence dissent. Our message is clear: not on our watch.”
