Teacher’s lawsuit against resident is dismissed after settlement over Israel-Gaza posts

In October 2024, a Deerfield High School teacher alleged in a civil lawsuit that Township High School District 113 personnel and a then-Deerfield resident had, among other things, defamed her in their responses to her social media posts about Israel and Gaza. 

Nearly two years after those December 2023 Instagram posts exposed divisions in the D113 and surrounding community, the civil complaints that the teacher, Britnee Kenyon, filed in federal court against those individuals have now been dismissed.

A Nov. 17 court filing shows the “parties have reached and executed settlement agreements resolving all claims and defenses asserted in this action between Plaintiff and all Defendants.”

That means Kenyon’s last outstanding claims — which alleged a Deerfield resident while using the handle “Michelle Leah” defamed Kenyon, invaded her privacy and published Facebook posts that “disseminated patently false and disparaging statements” — has been dismissed “in its entirety with prejudice,” public court records show. 

Each party will apparently bear their own attorneys’ fees, except as otherwise provided in the parties’ settlement agreements.

Kenyon’s other claims against the D113 Board of Education, its former president Daniel Struck and former D113 Human Resources Officer Thomas Krieger were resolved earlier this year when the board voted 6-1 on Sept. 30 to approve a settlement agreement with Kenyon. 

The litigation stems from a couple of posts, or “Instagram stories” that remained visible for just 24 hours, Kenyon shared on her personal social media account on Dec. 9, 2023. The posts appeared to be quotes from the popular author Ibram X. Kendi.  

After Kenyon shared the stories, “Michelle Leah” posted in three different community Facebook pages accusing Kenyon of posting “memes” that “slandered” Israel, Kenyon’s now-dismissed suit said. 

She also complained about Kenyon to a D113 board member and characterized the teacher’s Instagram story as “antisemitic,” the district’s lawyers said. 

According to Kenyon’s lawyers, the defendant wrote Facebook posts calling for local parents to contact then-D113 Superintendent Bruce Law about Kenyon’s Instagram story and, after learning Kenyon had not been fired, again posted concerns about “antisemitic behaviors.”

The defense on July 7, 2025, filed a motion to dismiss Kenyon’s complaint, arguing the resident’s speech is protected by the First Amendment as describing someone as “antisemitic” is not “actionable because such statements are ‘hopelessly imprecise.’”

Court records show that settlement negotiations between the two parties remained ongoing in October until their lawyers told the presiding judge on Oct. 21, they had come to terms. A draft settlement agreement was due Oct. 24, and the dismissal order was executed on Nov. 13.

Related district actions

While the D113 board voted 6-1 on Sept. 30 to approve their settlement agreement with Kenyon, the board voted unanimously that day to also approve a “notice to remedy” disciplinary measure against Kenyon, who remains a tenured teacher employed by the district.

Chief Human Resources Officer Dr. Kathryn Anderson sent a letter to Kenyon on Sept. 22 that stated she was recommending the board approve that notice to remedy, documents obtained by The Record through a Freedom of Information Act request show.

D113 Superintendent Dr. Chala Holland had determined that Kenyon, by way of redacted actions, had recently violated district board policies 5-130 and 7-340, which refer to “Internal Information” and “Student Records,” respectively, Anderson’s letter shows. 

Anderson’s letter stated that Kenyon must adhere to the requirements of those to policies “pertaining to the confidentiality of student records” and “must not disclose confidential Student Record information” or else face further disciplinary action up to being fired.

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