SYLVANIA—The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio sent a letter to Sylvania Schools on Wednesday on behalf of a substitute teacher who was recently fired for a status update he posted on his personal Facebook page in October 2015. The ACLU of Ohio says that comments like his are widely recognized as protected free speech.

In the offending post, the ACLU’s client Mr. Ide expressed anger over the assault of a Black female high school student by a school security officer at Spring Valley High School in South Carolina.

“The courts are very clear on this,” said Christine Link, executive director of the ACLU of Ohio. “Speech made by public school teachers that has no impact on their job performance is constitutionally protected free speech. When public schools retaliate against employees for expressing their views, they send the wrong message to students and communities.”

Ide was shocked to hear that he would not be renewed as a substitute. He said, “I am deeply disappointed that Sylvania—the very school district that I attended as a child—would choose to fire me simply for speaking about current events on my personal Facebook page.  Don’t we want our public school teachers speaking out against racism and state-sanctioned violence?”

Read the ACLU of Ohio letter to Sylvania Schools.

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