61 | Fired over a Coaster: Principal Free Speech and Community Values

What happens when a principal’s retirement gift to a friend causes a community uproar? In this episode, we discuss the case of Stirling v. North Slope in which a principal made a questionable gift, on a school printer, that resulted in him getting fired. While that may not sound so bad, the gift repurposed the school's official motto and logo in ways the community found problematic. Well, the principal challenged his termination, arguing that it violated his free speech rights. This is an interesting one! It involves community values, educators' free speech rights, employment issues, school authority, and the most northern school district in the United States, which is pretty cool, literally. We also discuss recent efforts by the Trump administration to shift the Department of Education's work to other federal agencies.--- Check out our updated website (⁠www.chalkandgavel.com⁠) to sign up for our newsletter, support the show, find our teaching guide, and order some NEW MERCH.Don't forget - ⁠Chalk and Gavel was selected to record a live episode at SXSW-EDU in March.⁠ We're pumped about this one. Help us spread the word!Interested in staying up to date on education law as an educator? Check out ELA's new publication, Law and Policy in Schools, available at https://www.educationlaw.org/lapis --- Keywords: free speech, labor and employment, employee termination, community values#educationlaw #k12 #podcast #ChalkandGavel #FreeSpeech #teachers