The School District Punished a Family for Reporting Sexual Assault: A Jury Sided With the Family Who Spoke Up and Held Kalispell Public Schools Accountable

When Kirk Nance learned that a young wrestler had been sexually assaulted inside the Glacier High School athletic program, he did what most parents hope they would have the courage to do. He reported it. He went to the Kalispell Police Department. He brought it to school officials. He put student safety first.

What followed was retaliation, according to a federal jury in Missoula that reached its unanimous verdict on June 18, 2026. The jury found that Kalispell Public Schools had retaliated against both Kirk and his son Clifford, a student athlete on the Glacier wrestling team, after the two came forward to report sexual harassment and assault occurring within the program.

Bliven Law Firm represented the Nances throughout this case. If you believe you’ve been punished for speaking up about misconduct in a school or workplace setting, contact Bliven Law Firm to discuss your situation.

Key Takeaways

• A federal jury unanimously found that Kalispell Public Schools retaliated against Kirk and Clifford Nance for reporting sexual assault within the Glacier High School wrestling program.
• The jury rejected the testimony of the Athletic Director, the head wrestling coach, and district officials, finding their stated reasons for the actions taken against the Nances were pretextual.
• The jury credited the testimony of Kirk and Clifford Nance and their witnesses, including one of the victims of the underlying sexual harassment.
• A federal magistrate judge had previously denied the district’s motion for summary judgment, finding the Nances had enough evidence to warrant a jury trial.
• The verdict was not about a large financial award. The plaintiffs each requested $1 in nominal damages, which the jury granted. The case was always about accountability and safety.

What the Nances Reported and What Happened Next

In early January 2023, Kirk Nance learned from a member of the Glacier High School wrestling team that the wrestler had been sexually assaulted on the wrestling bus the previous year. Kirk and the student’s mother filed a police report with the Kalispell Police Department on January 9, 2023.

The day after that report was filed, Kirk went to his son’s wrestling practice. He was told the practice was closed to parents and he was escorted out of the facility. No other parent received that instruction, and there was no policy barring parents from attending practices.

What came after that initial exclusion formed the backbone of the Nances’ lawsuit. Clifford, a homeschool student who had been competing on the Glacier team since 2021, found the amount and quality of his coaching reduced. When he later requested a transfer to Flathead High School’s wrestling team, that request was originally denied.

Kirk, meanwhile, faced a disorderly conduct charge and was trespassed from Kalispell Public Schools property, consequences the Nances argued in court were themselves the product of the district’s campaign to marginalize the family that had reported the abuse.

The District Tried to End This Before Trial. A Judge Said No.

Before the case reached a jury, Kalispell Public Schools moved for summary judgment. A motion for summary judgment is a procedural request asking a federal judge to decide the case without a trial. The district argued the Nances didn’t have enough evidence to support a retaliation claim and maintained that every action it took was motivated by student and staff safety, not retaliation.

U.S. Magistrate Judge John Johnston disagreed. In an order filed April 28, 2026, Johnston found that the Nances had met the bar needed to make out a prima facie case of retaliation and that material factual disputes remained that a jury needed to decide. The court pointed specifically to the tight timeline between the Nances’ reports on January 9, 2023, and the district’s actions in the days that immediately followed.

The ruling wasn’t a verdict. But it was a signal that a neutral federal judge had reviewed the evidence and concluded a reasonable jury could find that what happened to the Nances was retaliation. That jury eventually did.

Who Title IX Protects

Most people know Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 as the law that requires equal athletic opportunities for women and girls. But Title IX also protects people who report sex-based misconduct from being punished for doing so.

The Anti-Retaliation Provision

Under Title IX, a school that receives federal funding cannot retaliate against any person who reports or participates in a complaint involving sex discrimination or sexual harassment. Retaliation can take many forms. It doesn’t have to be an explicit threat or a formal disciplinary action. Restricting a student’s access to their sport, reducing their coaching, blocking their ability to transfer, and marginalizing a parent who reported an assault can all constitute retaliation when the motive is to silence or punish the person who came forward.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has consistently held that Title IX’s protections extend to complainants, witnesses, and others who participate in the reporting process. Schools that violate this can face loss of federal funding in addition to civil liability.

Why This Case Matters Beyond the Flathead Valley

Cases like the Nances’ don’t just resolve a dispute between two private parties and a school district. They create a record. A jury has now found, under federal law, that Kalispell Public Schools punished a father and son for doing exactly what safety advocates encourage people to do: report abuse, speak up, and stay involved. That record matters for every Montana school district that handles reports of sexual misconduct in youth athletic programs.

What the Jury Found and What It Said About the District’s Witnesses

The jury found the testimony of Kirk Nance, Clifford Nance, and the plaintiffs’ witnesses to be credible. It relied on that testimony in reaching its verdict.

The jury rejected the testimony of the Athletic Director, the head wrestling coach, and school district officials. It found that the reasons the district stated for the actions it took against the Nances were pretextual, meaning they weren’t the real reasons. 

Attorney Avery Field, part of the Bliven Law Firm team that represented the Nances at trial, said his clients hope the verdict “causes Kalispell School District 5 to look closely at how it treats whistleblowers, and how it treats parents and students who come forward to report any kind of misconduct, and put safeguards in place so that those parents and students aren’t targeted by district staff or other individuals who have reason to try to keep the whistleblower quiet.”

This Was Never About the Money

The Nances each requested $1 in nominal damages. The jury granted it unanimously.

Kirk and Clifford Nance didn’t pursue this case for a financial windfall. They pursued it because they believed what happened to them was wrong, and because they wanted a court of law to say so. 

As Avery Field told the Flathead Beacon, “For Kirk and Clifford, this has always been about student safety. This was never about money for them.” And later: “It was always about doing right by students and student safety.”

That framing matters. People who might otherwise hesitate to report abuse out of fear of retaliation need to know that the legal system has tools for exactly this situation. You don’t have to prove enormous financial loss to hold an institution accountable for punishing you for doing the right thing.

Bliven Law Firm handles whistleblower retaliation and Title IX cases throughout Montana. Contact our firm today if you believe you’ve been retaliated against for reporting misconduct.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a parent bring a Title IX retaliation claim?

Yes. Kirk Nance, the father, was a named plaintiff and the jury found the district retaliated against him personally. OCR guidance makes clear that Title IX’s anti-retaliation protections extend to anyone who participates in the reporting process, not just the direct victim.

What should I do if I reported misconduct to a school and faced retaliation?

Document everything: dates, who said what, what changed after your report. File a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights if you believe Title IX was violated. Then speak with an attorney who handles civil rights or education law. You have a limited amount of time to file a claim. 

Bliven Law Firm: Your Civil Rights and Personal Injury Attorneys in Kalispell, MT

When you report abuse and the institution you trusted turns on you, the retaliation can feel as damaging as the original harm. That’s not an accident. It’s a pattern. Kirk and Clifford Nance stood in front of a federal jury and proved it happened to them. 

If you’ve faced something similar you may have legal options worth discussing. Contact our firm today to talk through what happened.