Court Voids Discipline of Public School Teacher for Two 2020 Anti-Bernie-Sanders Posts

Thomas Caggiano taught mathematics in the public school system of Duval County , Florida , for over twenty-five years with positive employment evaluations and no prior discipline.

That was until he made politically tinged Facebook posts that led the school board to initiate disciplinary charges against him.

The court held this violation of Caggano's First Amendment rights: The two -part test for employee speech is whether the employee's right to free speech outweighs the employer's interest.

Caggiano 's reposts were a matter of public concern, but no evidence was presented that they disrupted School Board operations.

School Board failed to show any risk or actual disruption of its operations due to the reposted posts.

The posts were harmless political chitchat, but they collectively amounted to the proverbial hill of beans, the authors say.