Teachers are Citizens and can CRITICIZE their employer

Thanks for all the input...from one brick to another.

http://www.cfac.org/handbook/cases/Pickering_v_BoardofEducation.pdf

In Pickering v. Board of Education, 391 U.S. 563, 88 S. Ct. 1731, 20 L. Ed.
2d 811 (1968), the Court dealt with the First Amendment right of public employees to
speak on matters of public concern relating to their employment and with the right of the state, as an employer, to regulate the exercise of such right. The Court there was faced with critical statements made by a teacher concerning the way the school board had handled proposals for increased school revenue. Some of the statements involved were true, while others were false although not knowingly or recklessly so.

The Court concluded that no general standard could be fashioned in such situations and found that "the problem in any case is to arrive at a balance between the interests of the teacher, as a citizen, in commenting upon matters of public concern and the interest of the State, as an employer, in promoting the efficiency of the public services it performs through its employees." 391 U.S. at 568, 88 S. Ct. at 1734. The Court expressly held that the state could not entirely deny the right of its employees to criticize their employer. 391
U.S. at 568, 570, 88 S. Ct. 1731.