Relief Sought: Petitioner filed suit against the Western Line Consolidated School District seeking reinstatement because the nonrenewal of her contract violated her First and Fourteenth Amendments.
Issues: Givhan v. Western Line Consolidated School District addressed a teacher’s right to free speech under the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
Facts: Bessie Givhan, a teacher in Mississippi’s Western Line Consolidated School, went into the principal’s office and expressed her opinion concerning the school’s hiring practices and policies. She believed that the practices were racially prejudiced, and after expressing her opinions, the principal claimed that the teacher made unreasonable and hostile demands. After the school year, her teaching contract was not renewed. Givhan sued the school board, claiming that officials terminated her employment for exercising her First Amendment rights to free speech.
Findings of Lower Courts: The lower courts ruled that Givhan’s freedom of speech had been violated, and it ordered her reinstatement. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, however, reversed for the board. The district court consequently …show more content…
Furthermore, the court identifies that public employees who communicate in private rather than in public forums are not entitled to First Amendment protection. The trial court found that since the teacher’s criticisms were expressed privately to her superior and were not delivered in a manner so as to threaten the school board’s proficiency, she had not lost her constitutional protection. The court pointed out that the schoolboard’s alleged reasons for discharging the teacher were afterthoughts and therefore
Issues: Givhan v. Western Line Consolidated School District addressed a teacher’s right to free speech under the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
Facts: Bessie Givhan, a teacher in Mississippi’s Western Line Consolidated School, went into the principal’s office and expressed her opinion concerning the school’s hiring practices and policies. She believed that the practices were racially prejudiced, and after expressing her opinions, the principal claimed that the teacher made unreasonable and hostile demands. After the school year, her teaching contract was not renewed. Givhan sued the school board, claiming that officials terminated her employment for exercising her First Amendment rights to free speech.
Findings of Lower Courts: The lower courts ruled that Givhan’s freedom of speech had been violated, and it ordered her reinstatement. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, however, reversed for the board. The district court consequently …show more content…
Furthermore, the court identifies that public employees who communicate in private rather than in public forums are not entitled to First Amendment protection. The trial court found that since the teacher’s criticisms were expressed privately to her superior and were not delivered in a manner so as to threaten the school board’s proficiency, she had not lost her constitutional protection. The court pointed out that the schoolboard’s alleged reasons for discharging the teacher were afterthoughts and therefore