What Are Teacher's Rights to Political Opinions in the High School Classroom

My question involves education law in the State of: South Carolina. I have been placed on paid administrative leave for an undetermined time due to my political comments about the presidential election. A student videotaped the whole group conversation and sent it to parent and administrators.

Have you spoken to your union rep about it?

You have the right to have your political opinion. Depending on how you express it, you may not have the right to share it with your students.

Discussing your presidential preferences or degrading one candidate or another would be as inappropriate as lauding a particular faith from the lectern.

It has been inappropriate for decades for a K-12 teacher to promote a candidate in their classroom ... even though it is done far too often all the same. Sadly, it is not considered inappropriate at colleges and universities.

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Quoting prsnl123

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My question involves education law in the State of: South Carolina. I have been placed on paid administrative leave for an undetermined time due to my political comments about the presidential election. A student videotaped the whole group conversation and sent it to parent and administrators.

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As a citizen, you have a right to express your political views without government interference so long as you do so peacefully. But when you are an employee, your employer generally may fire you, demote you, cut your salary, etc., if you say things the employer does not like. The difficulties start when your employer is the government. A government employer is not as free to take adverse action against an employee because of his/her speech as a private employer is. The government employer generally cannot sanction you for political speech outside of work (though they generally can restrict active campaigning for or against a particular candidate). But government employers have more rights to control speech within the workplace. The employer has a compelling interest in having an orderly workplace and some kinds of speech certainly can disrupt that. And where it involves a public school teacher, the employer further has an interest in the content that is taught to the students. Certain political and social views are generally off-limits to discuss in a classroom. For example, it is clear that a teacher cannot advocate for or favor a particular religion in the classroom. Similarly, it generally considered off limits for a teacher to advocate for a particular candidate in the classroom, too, as that gives the appearance that school district is favoring one candidate or another. The exact comments you made about the election matter, of course, but if it is clear that you were favoring one candidate over another that is probably going to be problem for you — one that the Constitution won’t provide you cover for.

This occurred the day after the election. It was a brief conversation about several topics including a woman's right to choose in which I expressed a pro choice view and commented about the demographic that voted for Mr. Trump. None of my comments should be offensive as they are held by many. Is the voicing of these opinions grounds protected by free speech or grounds for dismissal?

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Quoting prsnl123

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This occurred the day after the election. It was a brief conversation about several topics including a woman's right to choose in which I expressed a pro choice view and commented about the demographic that voted for Mr. Trump. None of my comments should be offensive as they are held by many. Is the voicing of these opinions grounds protected by free speech or grounds for dismissal?

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That depends on all of the facts. This is something you should probably be speaking to your union rep. about.

As a public employee, there are times when your right to free speech can be - and should be - curtailed. As a peace officer, we are generally prohibited by policy from speaking on political issues, religion, etc. (with some notable exceptions). Also, as a teacher, I was subject to very similar restrictions.

While discussing the results of the election, and even the issue of a woman's right to choose an abortion or not, CAN be legitimate topics of discussion in the right classroom setting, these can also present a serious minefield. If your views in any way demeaned a group of students, or can be seen as an attempt to sway them politically or religiously, it can and probably should be considered improper conduct.

All because YOU believe that your comments "should" not have been offensive does not mean they were not - especially if other students' beliefs were demeaned or belittled by your statements. I have heard a great many statements about Trump voters which are nothing but inflammatory (intentionally so).

A public employee (a teacher) can be terminated if protected speech is not the only consideration in a school board's decision. In other words, protected speech (of a public interest) cannot be the only issue at hand. There has to be some behavior that would be the impetus for termination without the speech.

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The First Amendment protects government employees from termination because of their speech on matters of public concern. Connick v. Myers, 461 U.S. 138, 103 S.Ct. 1684, 75 L.Ed.2d 708 (1983). To prevail, the employee must prove (1) that the conduct at issue was constitutionally protected and (2) that it was a substantial or motivating factor in the termination. If the employee meets that burden, the government entity can escape liability by showing it would have taken the same action even in the absence of the protected conduct. Board of County Comm'rs v. Umbehr, —U.S.— 116 S.Ct. 2342, 135 L.Ed.2d 843 (1996); see also Botchie v. O'Dowd, 318 S.C. 130, 456 S.E.2d 403 (1995).

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If this goes badly and the school board moves to terminate you, you will need an attorney to represent you. There are also due process issues involved.

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Quoting prsnl123

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None of my comments should be offensive as they are held by many.

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Obviously they were offensive to someone or you wouldn't be in this situation now.

I was trying to allow space for two sides of the argument to exist I just stated a personal opinion without persuasion to support the voice of the minority in the room. My opinions are in keeping with settled law on the subject. What are my rights concerning access to the video and statements taken from students? Thank you.

Your rights to the video and statements are whatever your union contract says they are.

I don't have a union contract or representation at this time.

I do not have a union contract and am not a member of the state teachers union. Will they represent me if it comes to that?

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Quoting prsnl123

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I don't have a union contract or representation at this time.

I do not have a union contract and am not a member of the state teachers union. Will they represent me if it comes to that?

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If you are not a member of the teachers union, they will not represent you. You teach in a private school, correct ?

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Quoting prsnl123

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I was trying to allow space for two sides of the argument to exist I just stated a personal opinion without persuasion to support the voice of the minority in the room. My opinions are in keeping with settled law on the subject. What are my rights concerning access to the video and statements taken from students? Thank you.

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That may not have been how it came across. The portion of what you said that gives me some concern is that you said you "commented" on the "demographic" of those who voted for Trump. If that included a series of adjectives like, "misogynistic, racist, homophobic white people" that might not come across too balanced and benign. If it was something akin to the facts of the Electoral College, or the counties and states that swung his way, it may not be so damning.

Ultimately, if you criticized or belittled those who supported Trump or those who supported pro-life, that could be sufficient grounds for discipline. In the end, maybe, nothing will happen. Maybe your comments and discussion were benign and neutral. However, I kinda think if they were so objectively benign and neutral, this wouldn't be an issue. The devil is in the details in such things. Remember, you have a bully pulpit for many things in a classroom. And, unlike a tenured college professor (who are rarely trained to teach in the first place), a public school teacher does not often have the right to speak as openly on political or religious topics before their classrooms.

And f you have no union or rep., why not? If this is a private school, then you may be toast as you likely have fewer rights and can be terminated pretty much at will.

What subject(s) do you teach? You might have more of an argument if you teach History/Civics/Government or Debate. But if you teach Math/Science/Arts, I would say you definitely stepped over the line. Honestly, I am surprised as a teacher you haven't been trained to stay away from certain topics unless you work in a private school and are supporting their creed.

And honestly, as an HR person, I've learned to tell employees that it doesn't really matter if you didn't MEAN to offend or the comments wouldn't be offensive to most. As an adult/teacher, you must have known how divisive this whole election process has been and that blatantly picking a side meant you would offend someone. Many (on both sides) chose not to be very vocal -- in other words, you should have known your audience and you made a bad judgment call of not knowing your audience and making the assumption of what would offend. There seems to be an underestimate of a "silent" group.....

I think you are going to have a tough time overriding whatever punishment/consequences you get.