A former paraprofessional at Edwardsville Elementary School says she was fired after telling a visiting state representative that trans rights are human rights, and now she's taking the school district to federal court. Barbara Williams filed a lawsuit against Bonner Springs-Edwardsville Unified School District last month, claiming the district violated her First Amendment rights when it let her go over the March exchange with Rep. Carolyn Caiharr.
According to the lawsuit, reported by the Kansas City Star, Williams told Caiharr during the representative's visit to Edwardsville Elementary that trans rights are human rights and that diverting taxpayer money to private schools was not right. Williams says she was not technically on the clock during the interaction and claims she had a First Amendment right to express herself in a local government building. She is seeking $50,000 for lost wages and distress, along with financial and punitive damages, and has requested a jury trial in Kansas City, Kansas.
Williams claims in her suit that the school district infringed on her First Amendment rights and wrongfully fired her after she shared her political beliefs with Caiharr. Per the same account, Richard Moulin drafted the paperwork placing Williams on administrative leave and later recommended that the school board vote to fire her. Williams says she wants punitive action taken to deter similar treatment of other employees, according to the lawsuit.
District and Lawmaker Respond
Bonner Springs-Edwardsville Unified School District said it was reviewing the complaint but declined to discuss details of the pending litigation, the Star reports. Greg Goheen, who represents the district, said it will respond to Williams in court as appropriate. The district serves roughly 2,560 students across Wyandotte and Leavenworth counties. Edwardsville Elementary, where the March encounter happened, serves about 330 students in kindergarten through fifth grade.
Caiharr told the Star she learned about the lawsuit on Wednesday and said she was not involved in the district's hiring or termination decisions. She said she would defer to the school district on further details of the matter. Caiharr replaced former Rep. Mike Thompson in the Kansas Legislature; Thompson retired from politics in 2025, according to the Star's reporting.
A Mayor-Turned-Lawmaker in a Swing District
Caiharr is mayor of Edwardsville and a Republican representing District 33 in the Kansas House. She was appointed to the seat in August 2025 by a 13–0 precinct vote after Thompson's resignation, according to the Sunflower State Journal, and had previously served four years on the Edwardsville City Council before becoming mayor. Kansas state law allows local elected officials to hold municipal office while also serving in the Legislature, which is why Caiharr can remain mayor while representing District 33 in Topeka.
Caiharr is now seeking her first full term representing the district and will face Democrat Emily Blanks in the November general election. Blanks, a member of the Bonner Springs City Council, won 78% of the vote in the August Democratic primary to secure her party's nomination, according to The Community Voice. House District 33, which covers Bonner Springs, Edwardsville and other western Wyandotte County communities, was historically represented by Democrats before flipping to Republican victories in both 2022 and 2024, according to a Substack analysis of the race.
The Politics Behind the Exchange
The two issues Williams says she raised with Caiharr both track with the lawmaker's public record in Topeka. In April, Kansas House Bill 2468 would have increased the program's annual cap to $15 million for tax year 2026, but the governor vetoed the bill. Kansas lawmakers have debated restrictions on public restrooms and changing facilities according to biological sex.
Williams' claim rests on a legal standard set by the U.S. Supreme Court's 1968 decision in Pickering v. Board of Education, which holds that public school employees retain First Amendment protections to speak as private citizens on matters of public concern, so long as that speech does not unjustifiably disrupt school operations, according to Oyez. Whether the district can show Williams' comments caused real disruption during school hours is likely to be a central question as the case moves through court.
The Tenth Circuit has stated that public employees do not surrender all their First Amendment rights, according to a Mar 5, 2018, court opinion.
For now, the lawsuit adds a legal fight to what was already shaping up as Caiharr's first full-term election in House District 33, with both Caiharr and Blanks holding local government seats even as they campaign for the state legislative post ahead of November.
