37 | School Board Drama and Employment Discrimination

When do a school district’s employment decisions violate Title VII’s prohibition against racial discrimination in employment? Where is the line between interpersonal conflict and impermissible retaliation? What happens when local politics run a muck in a school district? In this episode, we unpack a rather complex case with a ton of history to it. While this is primarily a case about a principal whose contract was not renewed and who claimed it was for discriminatory and retaliatory reasons, there’s a lot more to it. You may remember some news from about 15 years ago about a Mexican American Studies program that was banned in Tucson, Arizona. Well, years after that controversy, the contract of one of the educators who was involved in its creation was not renewed by a school board that had some members who were publicly opposed to the program. We head west to Arizona to talk about the case of Romero v Tucson Unified School District. We also discuss a recent New Jersey law that bans the banning of books. That's right; it's a book ban ban!---Need some education law content for your courses or professional development? We have a Teaching Guide! You can check it out at our website, ⁠ChalkandGavel.com⁠.We'd also greatly appreciate it if you would consider supporting Chalk and Gavel by becoming a subscriber on Patreon. Your support will help us continue to deliver the education law content you want to hear!⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/chalkandgavel⁠---Keywords: Employment, Title VII, Race or National Origin Discrimination, Retaliation, School Boards, Contract Non-renewals, Ethnic Studies, Book Bans, Curricular Wars