The five Newark principals who were suspended for daring to question Superintendent Cami Anderson’s plan to close their schools have sued her for violating their First Amendment rights. They were joined by a Parent-TeCher organization whose president was barred from his child’s school.
Anderson was appointed by Governor Chris Christie’s administration.
Newark has an elected school board but has been under state control since 1995.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“The complaint argues that the suspensions of the five principals and banning of a parent are part of “a concerted effort to undermine, intimidate and coerce employees of the district, including the plaintiffs and members of the public, into agreeing with them on all issues related to any proposed reorganization plan.”
Yes, yes, and yes!
WooHoo!!! Let the freedom of speech ring and the end of private control in the public sector take flight.
This is great news! I hope and believe they will win.
Good for them.
Hit back, in an appropriate manner (which a lawsuit is here).
This is the only way to get things back in check where they have gone overboard.
You are right, Joanna!
This is very very good news.
I have no idea what this is about; but if Chris Christie is involved it can’t be good for the teachers or public education in New Jersey in general. He’s not for public education no matter what he says, his actions speak louder than words.
James Popham, a critic of current policies, and Margaret DeSander, a lawyer, have recently reminded educators that legal protections for teachers are limited, especially if the policies are uniformly applied to all teachers. I don’t know if this is also true for school principals, but this case will be worth following in the light of a fairly recent case where one federal judge characterized the work of teachers as little more than “hired speech.” Teachers are thus required to follow the rules made by school boards on all sorts of matters. Principals may be under similar constraints. See Popham, W. J. & DeSander, M. K. (2013, September 18). Unfairly fired teachers deserve court protection. Education Week, 33(4), 26-27. and Evans-Marshall v. Board of Education of Tipp City Exempted Village School District, No. 09-3775 (6th Cir. Oct. 21, 2010).
The principal is the instructional leader of a school and is, therefore, responsible for what happens to it. Suspending the princiipals for speaking as either professionals or private citizens has got to be wrong and unconstitutional.
This reminds me when Govenor Jindal’s staff kept teachers out of the state Capitol and wanted to know what demonstrators’ names were and what schools they were from when he was ramming through his school bills. The governor’s people tried to say it was security related, but how many times have you known teachers to become violent?
Educators First Amendment rights outside of the classroom have been the subject of litigation reaching the Supreme Court – and the courts distinguish among “citizens speech” and “speech under the cloak of authority,” See my essay below:
http://mets2006.wordpress.com/2010/03/18/freedom-of-speech-outside-of-the-classroom-protected-and-unprotected-speech-how-do-the-courts-view-teacher-speech-on-internet-platforms-do-teachers-have-special-responsibilites-or-special-rights-re/
When all you have is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail.
I love the contradiction here. For a movement that’s supposed to be based on “choice” and “markets”, there’s not a whole lot of positive persuasion going on.
When do we get to the cooperative, collaborative, creative part? After all the dissenters get fired? Then we’ll all agree, so we’ll reach agreement!
Good for the principals! Best of luck!
Whatever we need to do, we need to support them. They are all of us. Start a movement that demands an honest education discussion not this constant white noise of nonsense by people who never ever were in a classroom.
Reformers and civil rights, one has to wonder, which side of civil rights are they on?
In this case, the city could be renamed NewarKorea.
TC,
You do realize that the Rheeject is actually a North Korean plant trained to destroy American (sic) public education and bring down the good ol USA so that NK may take its rightful place as the top dog nation of the world. She’s so good at it that she has corralled leading capitalist dogs like Broad and Gates to fund her mission.
Good.
Is there a fundraiser for these principals I can contribute to? I am seriously happy to make a donation of whatever I can afford.
If anyone has information, please let me know.
These principals are heroes and true educators. They advocated for what was right, just, and moral. They are a big part of the solution and never were at all the problem . . . .
Well said. It takes great courage and moral conviction to speak out, and I applaud each and every one of them. I too would support their efforts. I hope information soon becomes available.
This is off topic. I have come to the conclusion that a populace unwilling to stand up and defend public schools does not deserve public schools. If it is just a few teachers, principals, and their friends upset, then it will never work! I think the majority of Americans didn’t value what they perceived as “free.” Too many Americans are wasting their time with stupid sports instead of studying. Most Americans went along with the “blame the teacher” propaganda. An educated people would never fall for such a blatant lie! I say let it burn! Let people enjoy the militarized charter schools. By their inaction and lack of intelligence they deserve no less! Let it burn! I just feel sorry for the teachers, but I feel no sympathy for all the parents and their children. These new charter schools are what you Americans so richly deserve! Enjoy those video lessons, enjoy the distance learning, enjoy wearing those bracelets, enjoy those huge classes. I could care less.
Mike,
I understand your frustration, but the fight is not over, and it’s just beginning to snowball as the reform rolls down hill. Parents are catching on.
I am assuming you have gotten badly burned in this reform movement, and if you have, please don’t give up hope and lose faith, even if you are not teaching any more. Please try and think beyond your own immediate survival and think about the long term of society and the kind of world we want to leave to children and grandchildren.
If I could right whatever wrongs that have befallen you, I would do so in a heartbeat, but in the meantime, DON’T GIVE UP! Please don’t. We educators need every voice, every drop of seat, every muscle, every brain cell, and we will NOT give up fighting for what is moral.
Remember, Mike: We 98 percenters outnumber the 2 percent . . . . .
I know how you feel Mike. But look at how many hits this blog is getting. On social media the numbers are growing. (36,000 BAT’s) And the momentum is building. I can tell you do care and it hurts to care when it seems all so hopeless.But Robert is correct – we out number them by a lot! Keep up the good work and the tide will change.
Yes! So glad to see people standing up for their constitutional rights and taking action. Our only recourse to injustice, malfeasance and corruption in the legislative and executive branches of government is the judicial branch, as well as democratic representation by capitalizing on our voting rights. Stand up, speak out, sue and vote!
Add one more, Teacher Ed:
Boycott!