Running head: Teacher’s Rights and Responsibilities 1

Portfolio Artifact# 2

Teacher’s Rights and Responsibilities

Deisi Gonzalez

April 3, 2020

EDU 210

College of Southern Nevada

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Scenario

Freddie Watts, the principal, and Jimmy Brothers, assistant principal are African

American administrators who serve at a predominantly African American school. A white

tenured teacher, Ann Griffin, made a biased comment towards people of color that she, “hated all

black folks.” Her comment irritated faculty members among colleagues, both black and white.

Based on her assertion, the principal decided to dismiss her from school because of concern

rewarding lack of capability as a teacher

Against Griffin’s Dismissal

The first case to be brought forward against Griffin’s dismissal is Pickering v. Board of

Education ( 1968), a high school teacher, Marvin Pickering was fired after writing a letter to the

newspaper severely criticizing the superintendent and school board over their handling of school

funds. The district found that the letter was detrimental to the interest of the school causing the

dismissal of the teacher. However, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the teacher alleging a

violation of his First Amendment right of free speech and that teachers, as citizens, do have the

right to make critical public comments on matters on public concerns ( Underwood & Webb,

2006).

In Thinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969) students in Des

Moines decided to wear black armbands through a holyday season showing it as a sign to protest

against the Vietnam War. Principals of the school believed it was disruption and created a policy

to ask any student wearing an armband to remove it. The Supreme Court stated that, “neither

students nor teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the

schoolhouse gate (Underwood,2016).

Supporting Griffin’s Dismissal

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Other situations have brough to the dismissal of teachers and court support of those

actions. In the textbook “School Law for Teachers,” a case named Melzer v. Board of

Education of the city Sch. Dist. Of the City of N.Y has been discussed. A teacher, Melzer, was

found in membership and active participation in the North American Man/Boy Love Association

(NAMBLA), a group that advocates sexual relations between men and boys (Underwood, 2016).

The court declared potentially disruptive to school operations and undetermined his efficacy as

educator because scholars may feel uncomfortable having a teacher who supports such views

(Underwood, 2016). With that being said, this case relates to Griffin’s assertions, despite

technically secure by the First Amendment, were offensive to many faculty members in the

school.

The next case to be presented to the affirmation of dismissal is Loeffelman v. Board of

Education of the Crystal City School District (2004). An elementary school teacher, Jendra

Loeffelman, revealed her perspective to her class and a parent that interracial marriage should

marriage according with their race because children come to school with “dirty little faces and

their hair never combed properly.” (Underwoo, 2016). The Missouri Court of Appeals

administered on her termination and upheld the superintendent’s conducts. The court discovered

that her opinions towards the students and parents did not characterized a matter of public

concern as stated under the First Amendment, and therefore, was not secured.

Conclusion

The fundamental argument to determine whether the white teacher’s assertions

represented relevant matter in the public domain, although her opinions were not given in her

class but to colleagues at work. Her racial expressions clearly relate in the case of Loeffelman v.

Board of Education of the Crystal City School District (2004). Her comments were not a matter
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of public concern and are considered to disciplinary conducts. Also, not exactly the same, named

Melzer v. Board of Education of the city Sch. Dist. Of the City of N.Y gives another example of

disruption in school. The school principal has the right to dismiss Mr.s Griffins from teaching

and the courts would uphold these actions based on the examples provided.
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References

Loeffelman v. Board of Education of the Crystal City School District (2004).

Retrieved from https://caselaw.findlaw.com/mo-court-of-appeals/1109760.html

Melzer v. Bd. Of Educ. Of the City of N.Y., 196 F. Supp. 2 d 229

Retrieved from https://casetext.com/case/melzer-v-board-of-educ-of-city-school-dist

Pickering v. Board of Education, 391 U.S 510 ( 1968)

Retrieved from https://www.oyez.org/cases/1967/510

Thinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District ( 1969)

https://www.oyez.org/cases/1968/21

Underwood, J. ( 2006) School Law For Teachers Concepts and Applications. Upper Saddle

River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.