Limits to Speaking Your Mind in School

LEGAL BRIEF

An experienced 1st-grade teacher in an urban New Jersey school district was having a tough time managing several disruptive students. So she vented on the social media platform Facebook. “I’m not a teacher — I’m a warden for future criminals,” she wrote.

The post created a firestorm. Parents and community groups alike complained the social media post was disrespectful and racist and made the teacher unfit to teach their children, all of whom were children of color. The school district filed tenure charges.

At the hearing that followed, the staff member argued that her right to speak out about classroom discipline was protected by the First Amendment. But while Constitutional protections extend to all citizens, teachers included, its guarantees are not absolute. The New Jersey courts found the First Amendment did not protect the teacher’s inappropriate conduct, and she lost her tenure in the district.