School district did not violate alleged whistleblower’s First Amendment free speech rights

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School district did not violate alleged whistleblower’sFirst Amendment free speech rightsRoss v The Katonah-Lewisboro Union Free School District,USCA, 2^nd Circuit, Docket No. 10-5275-cv
The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, ruled that a former schooldistrict employee’s First Amendment right to free speech was not violatedbecause her speech was uttered in the context of her official duties in contrast tospeech uttered in her personal capacity.
In the words of the court: “because Ross was speakingpursuant to her official duties and not as a private citizen, her speech wasnot protected by the First Amendment.”
The Circuit Court explained: “In the First Amendmentcontext, ‘the State has interests as an employer in regulating the speech ofits employees that differ significantly from those it possesses in connectionwith regulation of the speech of the citizenry in general,’" citing Pickering v.Bd. of Educ. of Twp. High Sch. Dist. 205, 391 U.S. 563. Speech by a publicemployee, said the court, is protected by the First Amendment only when the employee is speaking“as a citizen . . . on a matter of public concern.”
In Garcetti v. Ceballos, 547 U.S. 410, the Supreme Court held that “when public employees make statements pursuantto their official duties, the employees are not speaking as citizens for FirstAmendment purposes, and the Constitution does not insulate their communicationsfrom employer discipline.”
The individual had contended that she had been wrongfullyterminated because she had exercised her First Amendment right to free speechin reporting alleged financial misfeasance to the school superintendent and theschool board.
The decision is posted on the Internet at:http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/d60e79aa-6471-44b9-b831-70c72e11909d/1/doc/10-5275_opn.pdf#xml=http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/d60e79aa-6471-44b9-b831-70c72e11909d/1/hilite/