School-district officials in Downingtown recently acknowledged wrongdoing by Zachary Ruff, a former administrator who had a heated exchange with anti-abortion protesters outside S.T.E.M. Academy.
Ruff’s interactions with Lauren and Conner Haines on April 21 were caught on video and quickly went viral. On the video, Ruff can be heard chastising the siblings while singing and dancing — apparently to drown out their anti-abortion message.
To avoid litigation, school-district officials sent a July 7 letter to the Haines siblings, acknowledging wrongdoing by Huff and promising to train district personnel on the First-Amendment rights of protesters.
“You had every right under our constitution’s First Amendment to speak and display signs like you did, and that right was violated by Dr. Ruff,” the letter states.
The letter adds: “We are committed to preventing incidents like this from happening in the future and will instruct school employees not to violate anyone’s free-speech rights on public sidewalks outside our schools again.”
The Downingtown-area school district covers 16 schools.
Ruff, who is gay, tendered his resignation May 11, a week after attending a disciplinary hearing. He served as an assistant principal at S.T.E.M. Academy, which specializes in science, technology, engineering and math.
Ruff holds a doctoral degree in educational leadership. At the time of his resignation, his annual salary was $97,000.
He couldn’t be reached for comment.
