Free speech is under attack in this country. Some of the attacks are loud and transparent, while other attacks are quiet and obscure. At this very moment, someone could be combing through your personal Facebook page and advocating that the content is bigoted and grounds for you to be fired from your job. I faced this issue head-on, and I have a story to tell that is troubling but also intended to create awareness about this very real and important topic.
As a K-12 district leader, I was dreading an upcoming parent meeting with two same-gendered and divorced dads who thought that their child’s teacher should be fired based on her social media posts.
I had previewed the teacher’s page prior to the meeting, and I agreed with many of the teacher’s posts, which expressed politically conservative and religiously Christian viewpoints. I could not find evidence of hate speech or bullying on the teacher’s Facebook page. Nevertheless, I knew that I needed to come into the meeting with an open mind to demonstrate love and compassion for these dads who were clearly distressed.
The dads were articulate, educated, and respected members of the community who had persisted in trolling the teacher’s Facebook page. To understand the context, it is important to know some basic information about the teacher’s Facebook page:
- The teacher’s account was personal and was not school-related.
- While one had to “friend request” the teacher to view the entire contents of the page, many of the posts were made “public” for anyone to view.
- The teacher did not, at any point in time, advertise her personal Facebook page to parents or students or suggest that they view her page.
- The teacher was aware of the complaints that the dads had voiced, and even though the teacher had blocked them from viewing her page, the dads still found workarounds; they continued to monitor and attempted to police the page by communicating with school site administration.
The dads essentially thought that the teacher should not have free speech or express viewpoints that some students would identify with, such as Christian believers, but that could alienate students from other religions, including agnostics and atheists. The parents were also concerned with the teacher’s position on transgendered students. The teacher had made a post that biological male students should not be able to compete on female sports teams. The parents said that this was bigoted and a conflict of interest since the teacher also coached sports.
Ultimately, the dads expected the school district to monitor the teacher’s personal Facebook page. This request seemed unreasonable and like a misuse of public funds, as school districts have hundreds and sometimes thousands of employees and are not required to monitor how employees express their right to free speech. Furthermore, the parents wanted the district to take action to FIRE the teacher based on her personal social media posts.
In that moment, while I did not agree with the parents, I felt compassion for these dads who had clearly faced their own struggles in life. It seemed to me that perhaps their attention toward the teacher’s Facebook posts was really displaced hurt and anger for the unkindness that they had experienced in their own lives.
I also felt compassion for the teacher, who had a reputation as both an excellent educator and one who connected well with her students. I thought it was unfair that the teacher’s glowing reputation and professional practice were being outshined by her freedom of speech.
Nevertheless, I also sought legal counsel, as I recognized my own personal bias in this situation. The law supported the teacher’s constitutionally protected speech. In fact, even though it was not applicable in this situation, hate speech is protected in the United States. What is not protected is speech that advocates hate crimes or targeted harassment, and evidence of this could not be found on the teacher’s Facebook page.
In the end, I found this situation deeply disturbing, so I wanted to increase awareness in the Christian conservative community that personal social media accounts are being watched and monitored by others.
In today’s cancel culture, it is a bold move to contact a person’s employer and advocate that they be fired for posting personal religious or political viewpoints on their own time, especially when issues of religion and politics will always be offensive or controversial to those with opposing viewpoints. It is also disturbing that employers are being asked to monitor their employee’s expression of free speech and use it as grounds for termination. Free speech comes with a steep price to pay, and sadly, the costs continue to increase.
