An Arizona school district has settled a discrimination lawsuit brought by a former teacher who is nonbinary.

As The Arizona Republic reports, River Chunnui sued the Peoria Unified School District and two members of its governing board, Heather Rooks and Rebecca Hill, last year, alleging “discriminatory, retaliatory, and torturous actions” based on Chunnui’s gender identity.

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According to their March 2024 complaint, the former Desert Harbor Elementary School special education teacher sent a March 31, 2022, email informing fellow staff members of how they could support and acknowledge trans and nonbinary students on International Transgender Day of Visibility. After their email began circulating online the following week, Chunnui was placed on administrative leave and informed that they were being investigated for two alleged instances of unprofessional conduct: sending the email and reading the children’s book Pink Is for Boys to students.

Chunnui was ultimately cleared of the allegations and returned to work the following July, but claims that during the investigation, Rooks and Hill launched a “smear campaign” against them, publicly accusing them of grooming and sexualizing children. The lawsuit alleges that Rooks shared Chunnui’s March 2022 email on social media, organized prayer vigils for Chunnui, and urged others to speak up against Chunnui at a school board meeting.

Chunnui claimed that over the subsequent year, they endured relentless harassment and discrimination as a result of Rooks’ and Hill’s “smear campaign” and the district’s failure to address the situation. Chunnui claims they received “repeated harassing phone calls, emails, and social media messages” parroting Rooks’ and Hill’s accusations of grooming and of sexual attraction to minors, and that their home and car were vandalized.

The suit also claims that after Rooks joined the Peoria Unified School District governing board in January 2023, she and Hill attempted to have Chunnui fired by introducing a motion at a March 2023 board meeting to have their name removed from the district’s contract renewal list. Their motion ultimately failed, and Chunnui’s contract was renewed.

Chunnui claims they reported harassment from co-workers to the district’s human resources officer, but the district “failed to respond and remedy the harassment.”

According to The Arizona Republic, Chunnui resigned from the position at Desert Harbor Elementary School at the end of the 2024-2025 school year.

Chunnui did not disclose the terms of their settlement with the district, but told the outlet that a portion would go toward funding Family Prism Project, their new nonprofit focused on helping families of color and LGBTQ+ led families navigate the West Valley school system.

During the public comment portion of a Peoria Unified board meeting earlier this week, Chunnui specifically thanked Rooks, now the board’s president, for “helping push me from quiet teacher to proud advocate.”

“Without your public comments,” Chunnui said. “I may never have been radicalized into this work.”