KY counselor sues education board after colleagues found gun in her purse at school
A former guidance counselor at Franklin County High School in Frankfort is suing the Franklin County Board of Education and its individual members with claims they unlawfully searched her property last year when she was charged with bringing a gun to school.
In addition to the entirety of the county board of education, Holly Lawson has filed a federal lawsuit against several of her former colleagues: Kayla Creely and Lori Franke, as well as Superintendent Mark Kopp, claiming her Fourth Amendment rights were violated when they allegedly searched her closed purse locked inside her office without her consent.
The civil suit was filed on May 1, one year after the incident allegedly took place. Lawson was charged but she was never indicted, according to court records.
Kopp told the Herald-Leader Monday he couldn’t comment on the pending litigation. Kopp did release a statement shortly after the incident last year, saying district officials received a report that an employee at Franklin County High School may have had a weapon in their possession. He said the employee was questioned and she admitted to having the weapon.
According to court documents, on the first weekend in May 2021, Lawson attended an event relating to the Kentucky Derby and had her 9 mm handgun – which she has a concealed carry license for – in the very bottom of her purse. The documents describe her purse as a large bag which contained other things such as Lawson’s wallet, blue jeans, prescribed anti-anxiety medication, and other items.
On May 4, 2021, the purse was carried into the school and Lawson’s office with the firearm still inside, which Lawson said in court documents she forgot was located at the bottom of the bag. That same day, she left her office with the purse under her desk, out of view and locked in the office.
Around that same time, both Franke and Creely observed Lawson take one of her prescription anxiety pills, with no justification to believe there was anything illegal about the use of the prescription, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit stated that on May 4, 2021, both Franke and Creely waited for Lawson to leave the building and unlocked her office and entered without her permission where they discovered the closed purse. They allegedly began to open the purse and “conduct an illegal search of that purse, rifling through its contents, and ultimately locating the firearm.”
Creely and Franke reported the incident to a social worker, who then reported it to Kopp, the superintendent.
On May 5, 2021, Kopp allegedly met Lawson at the front door of the high school and escorted her to an office alongside the school’s sworn resource officer. Kopp allegedly blocked the exit and made clear Lawson was not permitted to leave. Lawson alleged in the lawsuit that she was detained against her will for 20 minutes.
While she was in custody, Kopp allegedly questioned Lawson without any rights advice and obtained her purse. Without her consent, Kopp directed her to open and empty the contents which revealed the firearm, according to the lawsuit.
Kopp had Lawson arrested and she was booked in the Franklin County Jail with charges of unlawful possession of a handgun on school property – a felony punishable by a maximum of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
In addition, Kopp suspended Lawson from employment at the school, and according to the court documents, told her to resign or be terminated.
Lawson’s court case ended after a Franklin County Grand Jury declined to indict her in June 2021.
According to state law 527.070, “a person is guilty of unlawful possession of a weapon on school property when he knowingly deposits, possesses, or carries, whether openly or concealed, for purposes other than instructional or school-sanctioned ceremonial purposes, or the purposes permitted in subsection of this section, any firearm or other deadly weapon, destructive device, or booby trap device in any public or private school building or bus, on any public or private school campus, grounds, recreation area, athletic field, or any other property owned, used, or operated by any board of education, school, board of trustees, regents, or directors for the administration of any public or private educational institution.”
In the civil lawsuit, Lawon’s attorney, Christopher Wiest cited several case precedents in regards to the clarity of firearms in the workplace, as well as securing warrants for search and seizure purposes.
One such case is O’Connor v. Ortega (1987) which stated, “Not everything that passes through the confines of the business address can be considered part of the workplace context, however. An employee may bring closed luggage to the office prior to leaving on a trip, or a handbag or briefcase each workday.
“While whatever exception of privacy the employee has in the existence and the outward appearance of the luggage is affected by its presence in the workplace, the employee’s expectation of privacy in the contents of the luggage is not affected in the same way. The appropriate standard for a workplace search does not necessarily apply to a piece of closed personal luggage, a handbag, or a briefcase that happens to be within the employer’s business address.”
The lawsuit also claims defamation on the part of Kopp, who is alleged to have done interviews with news sources following the aftermath of the search. Lawson’s attorney argues Lawson has suffered damages from those interviews.
In the lawsuit Lawson demanded a jury trial against the defendants to find their practices were unconstitutional. She also asked to be awarded compensatory and punitive damages against the defendants in an amount determined at trial exceeding $10,000 exclusive of interest and costs.