A Christian substitute teacher in Georgia has been reinstated, and the school district agreed to pay over $180,000 in damages and fees to settle a lawsuit that claimed that the teacher, a mother of three, was fired for expressing concerns about pictures of gay parents in a children's book.

Lindsey Barr, a former full-time early-childhood-education teacher in Bryan County, Ga., started working as a substitute teacher in the Savannah-area district in January 2022 after her youngest son started kindergarten. Barr was fired in August, after she expressed concerns to the principal of her kids' school about a picture book with two drawings of what appear to be gay parents. The school librarian intended to read the book to students, including to Barr's sons.

National Review first wrote about Barr's case in October.

As part of a settlement agreement, the district agreed to reinstate Barr, pay $181,000 in damages and attorneys’ fees, and to publicly apologize to Barr, according to Alliance Defending Freedom, the conservative law firm that represented her.

"Terminating a teacher for engaging in First Amendment protected expression creates an atmosphere of fear and sends a message to the teacher and others in the community that, if they criticize the school's approach to cultural or political issues or express viewpoints contrary to the school's preferred viewpoints, they will face consequences," ADF lawyer Tyson Langhofer said in a prepared statement.

As part of the agreement, the Bryan County Schools superintendent sent Barr a letter apologizing for the district's handling of her case.

"Upon returning, we encourage you as a parent to raise concerns about material being taught to your children," the letter said, according to ADF. "Raising such concerns does not preclude employment in our district. For the future, we are focused on the value you add for children across the district as a substitute teacher. We sincerely regret that your separation from the school district caused any distress."

However, in an email to National Review, a district spokeswoman said the district made "no admission of liability." The decision to settle was made by the district's insurance company "to save the time, trouble, and expense of litigation," spokeswoman Melissa Roberts said.

Roberts added that the insurance company “paid the settlement amount, with none of that money coming from the School District.”

Barr's concerns centered on All Are Welcome, a 2019 children's book that celebrates diversity. The book shows kids of different races, ethnicities, nationalities, and religions attending school together and participating in various school-related activities — playing on the playground, showing science-fair projects. The book also contains at least two scenes with drawings of what appear to be same-sex couples — two men, their arms around one another, walking a child to school; two women, one of whom appears to be pregnant, with their arms around one another, and one woman holding a child's hand.

Barr, a devout nondenominational Christian, didn't want the school to be instructing her children on homosexuality, telling National Review last year that "I would like to be the one who gets to have tough conversations with my children about political topics, or topics that are culturally sensitive."

Barr's children's teachers agreed to exclude her sons from the reading. In mid August, Barr reached out to Heather Tucker, the principal at McAllister Elementary School, expressing concerns about the book's pictures and "the potential conversations" that could arise after a reading. Barr and Tucker had a conversation the next day, and Barr said she was told that if she had any other concerns, she should send Tucker an email.

Barr then sent a photo to Tucker that she'd taken of a poster that was in one of her sons' classrooms the year before. The poster had a drawing of two men with a heart between them and the message, "All adults have the right to marriage and to raise a family."

"This is an agenda. This is not ok," Barr wrote. "If I couldn't post bible verses in my newsletter or read scripture to my classes or cover my students aloud in prayer, this shouldn't be allowed either. It isn't equity and diversity. It's propaganda."

The next day, Barr was unable to access the school portal she used to pick substitute-teaching assignments, according to her lawsuit. Tucker eventually fired Barr, telling her that her comments expressing her religious views "revealed biases that raised a question whether she could support every child."

Barr and ADF filed a lawsuit in September alleging that Barr's firing was a clear case of viewpoint discrimination — if she had suggested more books and posters highlighting same-sex couples, she wouldn't have been fired, they argued. The two sides agreed to the settlement, and on Monday ADF requested that the case be dismissed.

"Lindsey spoke out as a Christian, a mother, and a private citizen on an important issue — namely, the content and age-appropriateness of a picture book that the school planned to read to her kids and other elementary-aged children that conflicted with her family's values and faith. Yet school officials immediately retaliated against her for expressing those views and fired her from a job at which she excelled," ADF lawyer Philip Sechler said in a prepared statement.

"We commend the school district for finally doing the right thing and understanding that the First Amendment protects the right of Lindsey — and all public employees — to express their concerns about what schools are teaching children without the government cancelling them."