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Pickering V. Board Of Education Case Study

Decent Essays

All schools should ensure that we protect the speech rights of their staff members. In this course, previously we learned how complicated speech rights can be, especially in this day of age, when more people are using social media to express their concerns. As educators, we need to know when we are protected and we also need to be careful as we express our concerns about our school’s or district policies. Usually our staff handbook has guidelines and procedures as to how we should communicate with news media outlets.
In order to better interpret this scenario, we first need to look another case that resembles this scenario. The case related to this scenario, Pickering v. Board of Education (1983) upheld that teachers’ speech, just like that of any other citizen, is protected when the interest of the speech does not cause harm or create false statements. Overall, the …show more content…

Did she contact the newspaper during school hours? This would be important for me to know, as some districts have policies regarding teachers and the media. I would also like to see the districts policies. The last part of information needed is more information regarding the teacher. Was the teacher transferred for other reasons, did she have other issues with her supervisors? In case, the school was just trying to push her out, and this was an opportunity for them to do that.
Overall, based on the only information we are given, this scenario refers to teachers’ first amendment and freedom of speech. I would side with the teacher and I would encourage her to appeal her transfer. I would also suggest for her to truly understand her rights, as she would be walking a fine line. If her appeal is granted, I would suggest for her to continue to build her relationship with her supervisors, so that any future issues can be avoided. Working relations are one of the most important factor in this scenario and many other

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