Any and all records maintained by the National Institutes of Health including memoranda, draft memoranda, reports, email communications, email chains, data compilation, and other communications regarding or documenting accidents, incidents, illnesses and hazards identified concerning (i) recombinant nucleic acid molecules, (ii) synthetic nucleic acid molecules, including those that are chemically or otherwise modified but can base pair with naturally occurring nucleic acid molecules, and (iii) cells, organisms, and viruses containing such molecules research which was conducted at Biosafety Level (BSL) 2, BSL 3 or BSL 4 laboratories, including government owned facilities, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology firms, private laboratories, university laboratories, international laboratories and State public health laboratories.
 

[A] reasonable jury could find that Flynn’s criticisms were directed at what he perceived to be the school district’s repeated failures to adequately inform parents of the changes to the school district’s curriculum and values and to address his daughter’s concerns.

***

A reasonable jury could find that Flynn’s email was sent in his capacity as a parent to the person who convened the meeting and, in Flynn’s view, did so with no intention of working through the issues Flynn had raised regarding the curriculum and the teacher’s use of the BLM emoji.
 

***

A reasonable jury could therefore find that the Flynn’s speech was not related to his position as head football coach and that he spoke predominantly as a concerned parent.                                                          

***
 

The court accordingly concludes that a reasonable jury could find that Flynn’s speech was protected speech.
 

***

[M]ere disputes over policy, without more, cannot outweigh Flynn’s free speech interest; the right to express such disagreement is at the core value protected by Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment.

In one assignment, Plaintiff’s daughter was asked to consider various “risk factors” and “mitigating factors” that two people – one identified as “white” and the other identified as “black” – purportedly might use to assess each other on a city street.  Included among the various factors were skin color, gender, age, physical appearance, and attire.  “Black,” “aggressive body language” and “wrong neighborhood” were among the “risk factors” purportedly assessed by the person identified as “white.”  “White” and “Police officer” were among the “risk factors” purportedly assessed by the person identified as “black.”  
 

The Superintendent has had the opportunity to make sure the Dedham teachers conduct themselves as professionals and to teach the courses objectively and without biased opinions. He chose not to. I believe that the real men and women in the world are the ones who have the ability to compromise, especially in extremely controversial situations. Compromise allows people to experience life as a team. This is where unity brings individual pride together and relationships begin to strengthen. I believe all relationships are based on compromise.  The Superintendent was not willing to compromise.  I explained to him that if the teacher teaches the course objectively and removes the BLM logo from the class, people will soon get over the fact that the class was purposely created without notifying parents and without having a visible course curriculum, syllabus and learning objective. Apparently, it does not mean much to him that the Dedham Public School System is losing two wonderful students.
 

With respect to the first two issues, Superintendent Welch agrees that they are matters of public concern. He believes the Flynns’ concerns about the failure to notify parents about the curriculum change were valid, and Dedham Public Schools changed their policies in the months after the October 22, 2020 email…. (“We’ve made changes in policy at the school committee level. We’ve established a curriculum advisory that incorporates parent and community members to broadly review any changes around curriculum or concerns that may arise. And I made it clear to [the Assistant Superintendent] that if were there changes that were occurring in curriculum, we should be notifying parents in advance so they’re aware.”).
 

Although the majority of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees come from “underrepresented racial and ethnic groups,” the agency is hiring a Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at the recommendation of a special Inclusion Action Committee (IAC) created after George Floyd’s death. The head of the Homeland Security agency created after 9/11 to protect the nation’s transportation system says the new Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer will report directly to him and will help drive cultural change, establish a new leadership principle focused on supporting and sustaining an inclusive culture and ensure that performance plans for TSA executives focus on inclusive leadership. Despite a 55% racial and ethnic minority staff, the agency with 60,000 employees will work to ensure it is inclusive and that diversity is reflected at all levels, according to an extensive report published by the in house IAC.

The effort is part of a robust movement by the Biden administration to incorporate racial equity across all federal agencies. The plan was launched back in January 2021 when the president issued an executive order to advance racial equity and support for underserved communities through the federal government. The president’s document claims that “entrenched disparities” in laws, public policies, and private institutions have denied equal opportunity to individuals and communities and that the health and climate crises have exposed inequities while a “historic movement for justice has highlighted the unbearable human costs of systemic racism.” Therefore, the order states, the federal government should pursue a “comprehensive approach to advancing equity for all, including people of color and others who have been historically underserved, marginalized, and adversely affected by persistent poverty and inequality.” It further says that “by advancing equity across the Federal Government, we can create opportunities for the improvement of communities that have been historically underserved, which benefits everyone.”

In the last year many key federal agencies have implemented racial equity plans as per Biden’s order. The Department of Justice (DOJ) issued an Equity Action Plan to advance equity for marginalized and underserved communities. The Department of Labor dedicated $260 million to promote “equitable access” to government unemployment benefits by addressing disparities in the administration and delivery of money by race ethnicity and language proficiency. The Treasury Department named its first ever racial equity chief, a veteran La Raza official who spent a decade at the nation’s most influential open borders group. The Department of Defense (DOD) is using outrageous anti-bias materials that indoctrinate troops with anti-American and racially inflammatory training on diversity topics. The U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) created an equity commission to address longstanding inequities in agriculture. The nation’s medical research agency has a special minority health and health disparities division that recently issued a study declaring COVID-19 exacerbated preexisting resentment against racial/ethnic minorities and marginalized communities.

The TSA’s case is different because the agency already has plenty of racial and ethnic diversity, making a Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer seem like overkill. Nevertheless, the agency created the IAC, a “coalition of diverse TSA leaders” tasked with devising a strategy to enhance current programs, introducing innovative solutions toward achieving a positive culture and ensuring that the agency is a fair and equitable organization built on trusted relationships. In its report the IAC writes that that “the current climate around racial inequality requires us to think differently about inclusion in the workforce.”

Besides hiring a new diversity and inclusion chief, the IAC made a number of recommendations to meet the TSA’s new diversity and inclusion goal. Among them are establishing an annual “Year of Inclusion” campaign with themes ranging from “Belongingness” to “Equity” and “Empowerment.” The panel also recommends starting a new podcast series to “broadcast powerful, positive reflections involving TSA’s diverse workforce.” A Diversity Index should be created to measure how the TSA is building and balancing diversity at the middle and upper management levels, the IAC writes. It will help measure the level of diversity in a group, with a higher number indicating a more diverse workforce. “It considers different racial and ethnic groups and includes gender ratios across an organization,” the TSA diversity and inclusion panel writes in its report.