A Pennsylvania elementary school principal has filed a lawsuit against the school district that fired her after she shared on her Facebook page conservative memes, including one that read it is better to vote for a potato than Joe Biden.
Veteran educator Amy Sacks, principal of Evergreen Elementary School in the Perkiomen Valley School District, where she has worked for 20 years, posted a number of conservative memes to her Facebook page, which can be viewed in the report at the Daily Mail.
Elementary school principal is suing school district after being fired for sharing conservative memes on her Facebook page where she said she’d rather vote for a potato than Joe Biden. Amy Sacks Evergreen Elementary School
Perkiomen Valley School District https://t.co/MLWiPbQo2v— Jodi 💅 (@Jodi_Ann_Arias) December 9, 2020
According to the report, her lawsuit claims the school district superintendent told Sacks that her posts were offensive to a parent who reported them.
After having been fired in July, Sacks posted on Thanksgiving Day, ‘Many of you know that I am no longer the Principal of Evergreen Elementary at this time.”
“However, the circumstances surrounding this situation have been kept quiet until now,” she said.
Ott-Sacks added that her superintendent, Barbara Russell, “decided that the First Amendment Freedom of Speech has no place in public schools and that teachers and administrators are unfit to serve if they hold and express political beliefs that are right of center.”
She continued, according to the report:
I am reaching out to you today to share with you that as Principal of Evergreen Elementary School I was terminated because I expressed right of center political views – PRIVATELY. Political memes caused me to lose my job. Nothing that I did was even borderline unacceptable – they were simply political viewpoints.
…
I was Principal of one of the best performing elementary schools in Pennsylvania and still fell victim to being cancelled out by liberal bureaucrats who don’t believe in diversity of thought, speech, opinion, or political affiliation.
According to the report at the Daily Mail, Sacks’ attorney said she was “mysteriously removed with little explanation,” but suggested Russell fired her because her Facebook posts were considered to be “offensive, unacceptable, and unprofessional,” and that Sacks was believed to be “racist.”
Besides the meme that read, “This is a potato; if this potato was running against Joe Biden, I’d vote for the potato,” Sacks posted another in June, during the riots and looting that occurred in some cities, that read, “Due to Covid, we’re gonna need people to riot from home and destroy your own s**t.”
“With the support of my husband and family, I have decided to challenge the school district by filing a lawsuit against them to save my job,” Sacks said. “I hope to lead by example and inspire others to stand against the erosion of our constitutional rights in America.’
Sacks is seeking $500,000 for the “emotional turmoil” she has suffered as a result of her termination.
Her attorneys asserted, “At no point was Amy advised to get counsel, nor was she informed of her rights; instead she was viciously threatened with career ruination if she tried to contest anything happening.”
The Daily Mail reported the school board approved of Sacks’ termination but then announced she had “resigned.”
“The conduct was wildly illegal,” her lawyers added. “Amy has a near absolute right to free speech on her private Facebook account. Furthermore, before any action can be taken against a public employee, Due Process requires that the school provide her notice of the charges against her.”
