Case Summary: Pickering V. Board Of Education

According to Pickering v. Board of Education, (1968) a science teacher on high school level wrote a letter to the editor of a local newspaper, in which the teacher criticizes the board of Education's distribution of funds between academics and athletics. The school board immediately fired the teacher, stating that the letter contained false statements that challenge the integrity of the school system. The teacher in returned filed a lawsuit claiming that the board violated his First Amendment rights by terminating him in exercising his first amendment right to “freedom of speech”. In this court decision, the Supreme Court of the United States held that in the absence of proof of the teacher knowingly or recklessly making false statements the

The problem, in any case, is to arrive at a balance between the interests of the teacher, as a citizen, in commenting upon matters of public concern and the interests of the State, as an employer, in promoting the efficiency of the public services it performs through its employees. In this case, the teacher was speaking more as a citizen than as an employee when he composes the letter to the editor. Teachers have the right under the First Amendment to freedom of speech under the constitution. Based on the reasoning in Pickering, it is only proper to fire a teacher when they make public statements, of public concern, against their employer that are either knowingly or recklessly false. Actual harm to the school district need not be shown to constitutionally terminate a teacher so long as the state is knowingly or recklessly false (Humphires, 2017). I agree with the court decision, while criminal sanctions and damage awards have a somewhat different impact on the exercise of the right to freedom of speech from dismissal from employment. It is apparent that the threat of dismissal from public employment is nonetheless a potent means of inhibiting

Teacher Discrimination The Pregnancy Discrimination Act, (1978) amends Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and makes discrimination based upon pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions illegal sex discrimination' under Title VII. Under the law, a school district may not dismiss or demote a pregnant teacher based on her pregnancy, nor may a district deny a job or a promotion to a pregnant teacher on the base of her pregnancy. as part of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, follows a comparison framework in evaluating discrimination claims. Courts look for “equal treatment” based on an evaluation of whether the employee claiming discrimination was treated less favorably in comparison to another employee who is “similarly situated” but for the characteristic that is the basis of the discrimination claim Women affected by pregnancy or related conditions must be treated in the same manner as other applicants or employees who are similar in their ability or inability to work