A Prior Lake teacher is suing her school district for disciplining her for an immigration-related social media post, alleging that her constitutional rights were violated.
Brooke Zahn, who teaches fourth grade at Jeffers Pond Elementary school in the Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools district, said in her lawsuit that she was “punished” because of her personal use of social media. She reshared an image last December advocating for deporting families with mixed immigration status back to their native countries. She was previously disciplined for making posts in 2021 that promoted anti-masking during the COVID-19 pandemic; that incident is also part of her lawsuit.
“I love my job as a teacher, and I am proud of my right to free speech,” Zahn said in a news release issued last Friday about the lawsuit. “The district’s decision to punish me for my private opinions was wrong. I am standing up for my rights as a citizen and to ensure this doesn’t happen to other teachers.”…