Skokie teacher withdraws lawsuit accusing local parent of defamatory social media posts, letter

A nearly five-year legal saga between a local teacher and a conservative activist suddenly concluded in April.

An Evanston-Skokie School District 65 teacher’s 2021 lawsuit accusing a Skokie parent of defamation was dismissed three years ago, and a judge ordered the teacher to pay the defendant approximately $40,000 in legal fees.

That D65 teacher, Jasmine Sebaggala, later won an appeal to recover those legal fees and begin filing evidence for a potential trial against the parent, Helen Levinson, public court records show. 

Yet on April 29 Sebaggala dismissed her lawsuit “due to a family emergency unrelated to the matter that demanded her complete attention,” said Sebaggala’s lawyer, Sheryl Weikal, in an email to The Record.

A judge ruled that all of Sebaggala’s claims are now permanently disposed of and ordered each side to bear their own attorney fees — a sudden resolution after more than four and a half years of legal proceedings.

Sebaggala’s complaint, first filed September 2021 and later twice amended, alleged Levinson — via social media content that she and advocacy groups she’s tied to posted, and via a letter Levinson sent to D65 staff — aimed to sully Sebaggala’s reputation and damage her career. 

Levinson, in court documents, denied those allegations, argued that Sebaggala suffered no damages and the lawsuit was “retaliatory” to Levinson’s exercise of protected speech. 

“Had the (family) emergency not occurred, or had it occurred at a different time, (Sebaggala) would have continued with the matter,” Weikal wrote. “After all, the Appellate Court already vindicated my client’s rights and my client did have meritorious claims which would have been shown had the case gone to trial.”

Levinson told The Record that she was “happy” the lawsuit had been dismissed after she experienced “nearly five years of a false narrative in my community.”

“I didn’t quit defending myself. But I am happy,” she said. “I’m grateful to my legal counsel, I’m grateful to the organizations that stood beside me like Awake Illinois — I do sit on the board of Awake Illinois — and I’m grateful for every person who offered support and encouragement to keep me going because I don’t know how many parents or individuals that would have been slapped with a lawsuit like this that would have continued on.”

The complaints

Sebaggala’s 2021 complaint indicates she first encountered Levinson via content Levinson and conservative advocacy groups — like Awake Illinois and the Niles Township Accountability Coalition, which Levinson reportedly co-founded but is now defunct — posted online.

On Sept. 7, 2020, Levinson publicly referred to the Black Lives Matter movement as “anti-white” and a “spin-phrase” while advocating for Black Lives Matter to be barred from Niles Township schools, Sebaggala’s complaint says. 

In their answer to Sebaggala’s complaint, Levinson’s attorneys claimed to “have insufficient information with which to admit or deny” that allegation and demanded proof.

On Sept. 8, 2020, Sebaggala, who is Black, reportedly addressed Levinson in a Facebook post that explained Black Lives Matter’s mission “is to eradicate white supremacy” and asked “please do not refer to BLM as a spin phrase.” 

In response, Sebaggala’s complaint alleges, Levinson began “systematically and intentionally acting to damage Sebaggala’s reputation, and therefore her career” for “the sole reason that Sebaggala is a Black teacher who supports Black Lives Matter.”

Social media posts Levinson and the NTAC published online in 2020 and 2021 falsely characterized Sebaggala as a communist agitator who abused white children in her class and advocated for racial segregation, according to Sebaggala’s complaint. 

In August 2021, Levinson sent a 14-page letter to D65 staff that alleged Sebaggala and members of the Abolition Coalition of Skokie, an advocacy group Sebaggala reportedly was part of, had used “intimidation tactics” like “berating parents online” and “posting anti-white rhetoric.”

About a week later, Sebaggala filed her lawsuit alleging Levinson had worked to portray Sebaggala “as a racist, a person who violated state and federal law, and a person of poor moral character unfit to be a teacher”

As a result of Levinson’s actions, Sebaggala “lost an anticipated potential promotion,” “received repeated threats from Levinson’s followers” and “suffered extreme emotional distress,” Sebaggala’s complaint alleged.

When Sebaggala first filed her complaint, it included four different counts against Levinson. But after various amendments and orders, a judge ruled in March that Sebaggala could only proceed with the allegation of defamation.

Sebaggala requested the court enter a judgement against Levinson awarding Sebaggala no less than $50,000, plus costs and punitive damages.

Dismissals, fees and appeals

Levinson’s answer to Sebaggala’s complaint denied that she tried to damage Sebaggala’s reputation and career, and argued Sebaggala could not prove that any of Levinson’s alleged statements caused harm or caused financial damage. 

In a petition to dismiss the lawsuit, Levinson’s lawyer said Levinson’s August 2021 letter to D65 staff aimed to “bring to the school board’s attention various facts and to allow the school board to make its own determination about whether misconduct has occurred and if so, what to do about it.”

In December 2022, a judge granted Levinson’s petition to dismiss Sebaggala’s lawsuit after being persuaded that her statements were protected by The Citizen Participation Act but allowed Sebaggala to refile her complaint to “address the deficiencies identified.”

The judge ruled again in May 2023 to dismiss Sebaggala’s amended complaint, court records show, and Levinson petitioned for more than $43,000 in legal fees arguing the complaint was “utterly frivolous… scandalous and derogatory” and needed to be penalized and deterred. 

After the court awarded Levinson $38,000 in legal fees in December 2023, Sebaggala’s attorneys filed an appeal. 

In June 2025, an appellate judge reversed the dismissal of Sebaggala’s complaint after determining it “was not meritless under the Citizens Participation Act,” reversed the award of attorney fees and asked Sebaggala to file a second amended complaint.

In March, the appellate judge asked both parties to initiate the discovery phase for a potential trial.

On April 29, Sebaggala dismissed her lawsuit by “stipulation or agreement.” A D65 staff directory shows she now teaches kindergarten at Oakton Elementary School in Evanston.

Levinson said there “was no settlement” — the dismissal was permanent.

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