Last year, South Hadley resident Luke Gelinas filed a federal civil lawsuit alleging that his First Amendment rights were violated when Chairperson Edward Boisselle removed him from a public meeting for criticizing the school’s handling of the Phoebe Prince case. On October 18, 2011, the Court issued a memorandum denying the defense motion for summary judgment and stating that Gelinas "has presented sufficient evidence from which a reasonable jury could find that Boisselle prevented him from speaking solely on the basis of his viewpoint, thereby violating his First Amendment rights."

During the public comment period of the school committee meeting on April 14, 2010, Gelinas was speaking from a prepared statement. Gelinas began to say that it was time for school officials, including Boisselle, to be held responsible for their role in the death of Phoebe Prince. Before he could finish, Boisselle ordered Gelinas to stop speaking and sit down. Gelinas was eventually escorted out of the meeting by police officers.

The defendants in this case, Boisselle and the two police officers, filed a motion for summary judgment seeking a ruling that there was no question that Boisselle removed Gelinas from the meeting for valid, viewpoint-neutral reasons.