Beverly Hills substitute teacher said she was fired over anti-Trump posts. Now she's suing the district
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Set us as preferred A substitute teacher at Beverly Hills High School announced Tuesday morning that she’s suing the school district that fired her, alleging her First Amendment rights were violated when she was terminated for writing Facebook posts criticizing President Trump.In November 2024, Joanie Garratt started a monthlong substitute-teaching assignment to prepare students for the AP U.S.History exam and was terminated that same month.
She said her online political posts were cited as the reason for her firing.According to a lawsuit filed Monday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Garratt’s social media posts were made on her personal page and were done outside school hours.Garratt filed the lawsuit against Beverly Hills Unified School District, alleging violation of the California Labor Code and the First Amendment.
Garratt is seeking unspecified damages.“I loved my 30 years with the district,” Garratt told The Times.
“To me, it was like a family.I was so dedicated to my job and I was so emotionally traumatized by what had happened.
I lost a lot of weight.I could not believe that my school district would be so extreme with me over a Facebook post that I don’t even consider a big deal.
It wasn’t the first time I had written something critical of the district or MAGA.” The school district didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.Other educators have gotten fired or reprimanded in recent years over anti-Trump and anti-Israel remarks.A San José State University professor was terminated after she took park in campus protests related to the Gaza war two years ago.
The Cal State faculty union ruled earlier this summer that she must be reinstated as a tenured professor.California The lawsuit comes a week after an arbitrator ordered the university to reinstate the tenured professor.The comp...