26 | Teacher Speech Rights and Social Media

When can a school discipline a teacher for their social media use? What happens when a teacher’s problematic tweets go viral? Imagine waking up to an email detailing a teacher’s history of retweeting and commenting on some rather controversial posts. That's exactly what happened to a West Virginia school board’s communications director when one of the district’s high school teacher's Twitter activity sparked a firestorm in the community. In this episode, we're diving into the case of Durstein v. Alexander, a legal battle that challenges the boundaries of free speech for educators and explores what happens when personal beliefs collide with professional responsibilities. We also discuss a recent wave of cell phone bans in K-12 schools. --- We're building a Teaching Guide! You can check it out at our website, ChalkandGavel.com. We'd also greatly appreciate it if you would consider showing your support for Chalk and Gavel by becoming a subscriber on Patreon. Your support will help us keep delivering the education law content you want to hear! ⁠https://www.patreon.com/chalkandgavel --- Keywords: First Amendment, Free Speech, Teacher Speech Rights, Teacher Discipline, Social Media, Politics, Prior Restraint, Heckler's Veto, Qualified Immunity, Cell Phones