A federal court in Southern Ohio has ruled that school districts have some leeway to regulate teachers’ classroom libraries under board policies on teaching “controversial issues.” In Cahall v. New Richmond Exempted Village School District, the district suspended a teacher for three days for putting certain books in her classroom library for students to access, without administrative approval. The court did not hold that the controversial issues policy would allow for discipline of a teacher in all cases involving classroom libraries. But the Cahall case does open the door to discipline for teachers who knowingly put controversial books in their classroom libraries without administrative approval.
Employee Social Media: When Is It the District’s Business?
Recent events have brought the question front and center: When can public schools take action to regulate employees’ use of their personal social media accounts? While school employees have the right to their personal freedom of speech, those rights are limited by several key factors: (1) the subject of the speech, (2) whether the speech can be attributed to the district, and (3) whether the speech creates a substantial disruption in school, or diminishes loyalty and trust in the district.