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Fired West Virginia Teacher Loses Suit Over Bigoted Posts
The Associated Press Via WOUB ^ | March 25, 2021 | Associated Press

Posted on 03/27/2021 8:38:05 AM PDT by buckalfa

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed the lawsuit of a West Virginia teacher who was fired for her social media posts.

Former Huntington High School teacher Mary Durstein made a series of posts in 2017 that ridiculed Black people, Muslims and former President Barack Obama.

The Herald-Dispatch reports that she challenged an “immorality” law as overly broad.

But Robert C. Chambers ruled Monday that the Cabell County school system did not violate her freedom of expression.

(Excerpt) Read more at woub.org ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Government; US: West Virginia
KEYWORDS: education; freecspeech; freespeech; internet; socialmedia; westvirginia; wv
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Once again a reminder that social media is not your friend. That and while the Constitution guarantees freedom of speech, the guarantee only bars government interference from said speech. Did the judge err in not considering the local school to be an agency of the government?
1 posted on 03/27/2021 8:38:05 AM PDT by buckalfa
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To: buckalfa

Nothing is guaranteed if it’s not acted on.....


2 posted on 03/27/2021 8:40:48 AM PDT by caww
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To: buckalfa

By this reasoning when Christians start reporting teachers who post anti-Cristian slurs, those teachers will have to be fired.


3 posted on 03/27/2021 8:49:14 AM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire. Or both.)
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To: buckalfa

Appeal it.
The Supreme Court once ruled, during the Vietnam era when there were many protests, that students don’t “check their 1st Amendment rights at the gates”.

So why do teachers have to do the same?

I have no idea what she wrote or said, so I can’t condone or condemn it. But that is not the point. She as a near absolute, protected right to free speech.


4 posted on 03/27/2021 8:50:38 AM PDT by monkeyshine (live and let live is dead)
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To: monkeyshine

Wasn’t the SC ruling on protests that occurred at schools?

This is a morality clause for what she posted offsite.


5 posted on 03/27/2021 8:52:42 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (Lean on Joe Biden to follow Donald Trump's example and donate his annual salary to charity. )
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To: BenLurkin

Get Real! Some animals are more equal than others. Christians are at the bottom of the list.


6 posted on 03/27/2021 8:52:47 AM PDT by sport
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To: buckalfa

I am required to have it for my VR headset. I told fb this was a fake account I was setting up and there was nothing they could do about it. They did NOT push back asking for an ID check.

I do spend a little time on there in the VR forums, mostly to swap jokes about various VR arcana and they have been helpful in some stuff I want to do.

But my RL name appears nowhere. Nor is there a link as I never gave fb my RL info.

But if an untethered VR shows up from a competitor that can play my favorite apps, I will have a Quest rig for sale that minute.


7 posted on 03/27/2021 8:54:40 AM PDT by freedumb2003 (No matter what, resist and stop the agenda of blow bidet and hairass the whore)
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To: buckalfa

It’s all flaky BS.

If she had been front line in a LGBTQA... or a BLM protest, do you think the school would have dared fire her, do you think some flaky court would have said it’s the schools right to fire her?

https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-ba6e98ca2458649b8c8fcbb3c695f8ee.webp

It’s real simple, you’re allowed to publicly have some ideas, but other ideas are not allowed.


8 posted on 03/27/2021 8:54:45 AM PDT by Red6
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To: buckalfa
From the Daily Mail because the US press doesn't seem to want to introduce context into this:


9 posted on 03/27/2021 8:55:41 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (Lean on Joe Biden to follow Donald Trump's example and donate his annual salary to charity. )
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To: a fool in paradise

You could be right but I don’t see a meaningful difference. If anything, what she did outside of school makes it all the more protected.


10 posted on 03/27/2021 8:55:59 AM PDT by monkeyshine (live and let live is dead)
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To: buckalfa

CAIR is claiming victory.


11 posted on 03/27/2021 8:57:09 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (Lean on Joe Biden to follow Donald Trump's example and donate his annual salary to charity. )
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To: monkeyshine

Does their morals clause cover adultery? being drunk or stoned? How about rabid remarks against Donald Trump or his supporters?


12 posted on 03/27/2021 8:58:40 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (Lean on Joe Biden to follow Donald Trump's example and donate his annual salary to charity. )
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To: buckalfa

If someone does not know by now that social media posts can lead to problems including being fired, then they are truly not that bright. I have no sympathy.


13 posted on 03/27/2021 9:01:13 AM PDT by leaning conservative (snow coming, school cancelled, yayyyyyyyyy!!!!!!)
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To: buckalfa

If it was a public school, than that is government.


14 posted on 03/27/2021 9:13:05 AM PDT by joma89 (Buy weapons and ammo, folks, and have the will to use them.)
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To: caww

Never post under your real name


15 posted on 03/27/2021 9:15:15 AM PDT by Sir_Humphrey ( I wiIl not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered! My life is my own!)
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To: a fool in paradise

Depends on who complains and who adjudicates the complaints. Of course!


16 posted on 03/27/2021 9:27:08 AM PDT by monkeyshine (live and let live is dead)
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To: leaning conservative
If someone does not know by now that social media posts can lead to problems including being fired, then they are truly not that bright.

You are right of course. But good. Petard, meet hoist. Their success will be their failure.

17 posted on 03/27/2021 9:28:47 AM PDT by monkeyshine (live and let live is dead)
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To: Sir_Humphrey

Especially if you’re white.


18 posted on 03/27/2021 9:48:33 AM PDT by proust (All posts made under this handle are, for the intents and purposes of the author, considered satire.)
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To: buckalfa

Maybe there are other school districts that would be very happy to hire her.


19 posted on 03/27/2021 9:53:49 AM PDT by Meatspace
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To: buckalfa; monkeyshine

Very definitely should be appealed to the Supreme Court. A local public school board is a government entity and when it penalizes speech , it is violating the constitution.


20 posted on 03/27/2021 9:57:15 AM PDT by allendale
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