A lawsuit filed earlier this week by a teacher claims the Prior Lake school district violated her right to freedom of speech after a social media post made in a private Facebook group was shared publicly, and claims that the district suspended her without pay.
The suit — filed on Wednesday by Brooke Zahn against Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools, Superintendent Dr. Michael Thomas and Jeffers Pond Elementary principal Patrick Glynn — argues public employers don’t have the authority to punish an employee for comments made outside the workplace. Zahn also says retaliation and viewpoint discrimination were used to violate her right to free speech.
Zahn, who has worked as a teacher in the district since Aug. 2016, according to the lawsuit, had a personal Facebook account using her maiden name that wasn’t used for work purposes until she deactivated it earlier this year. In addition, it had a section in the “intro” section of her profile that said, “The views I share are mine & mine alone and only represent me.” She was a member of a private group called “Prior Lake Light Hearted Conservative Group US,” according to the lawsuit, and was interested in a political debate that spread across the country regarding immigration and border security…