A special-education supervisor who says she resigned under protest from the North Penn School District in July after sharing a post critical of Black Lives Matter on social media filed suit Friday against the district, school board members and administrators.
Ashley Bennett, a veteran educator and head of district special education for eight years, was placed on administrative leave within two days of sharing a post on Facebook in late June that set off a social-media firestorm. The suit, filed in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court, charges violations of First Amendment rights of free speech and political association, as well as violations of due process.
She’s seeking unspecified damages for loss of earnings, emotional pain and suffering, punitive damages and court costs. "You can’t put a price tag on 27 years of a career,” says Bennett’s attorney, Francis Malofiy, Esquire, of
Francis Alexander LLC. "She has applied to numerous districts for a number of positions, and they’ve all been turned down.
"She’s basically an outcast at this point,” Malofiy said. "She’s unable to gain employment anywhere, because the way the school district handled this hurt her professionally. She’s labeled a racist and a bigot, and it’s untrue. They destroyed her whole career.”
A spokesperson for the North Penn School District said Wednesday night that they hadn’t yet seen the complaint and could not comment on it.
The suit says actions taken against Bennett both in public and in private meetings violated not only constitutional rights
but also the stated employee policies of the district. Board Policy 320, on freedom of speech in non-school settings, reads in part: "The Board acknowledges the right of administrative, professional and support employees as citizens in a democratic society to speak out on issues of public concern.” And Policy 321, on political activities, states in part: "The Board recognizes and encourages the right of administrative, professional and support employees, as citizens, to engage in political activity.”
"You can’t talk about diversity of people unless the school espouses the virtue of diversity of thought and speech,” says Malofiy. "What they did was engaged in illegal conduct in basically canceling out someone who was a stellar employee. This should never have happened.”
The suit also alleges that the public statements of the district and officials without due process represent a misdemeanor violation of
state statutes regarding disciplinary actions against educators. "In this case,” said Malofiy, "everyone rushed to talk to the press, rushed to blast Ashley Bennett, without affording her any due process at all.”
What ignited the firestorm was a post, not written but shared by Bennett on Facebook the evening of June 24 and since deleted, which read in part:
"I see signs all over saying #BlackLivesMatter. I’m just trying to figure out WHICH black lives matter. It can’t be the unborn black babies – they are destroyed without a second thought. It’s not black cops – they don’t seem to matter at all. It’s not my black #Conservative friends. They are told to shut the **** up if they know what’s best for them by their black counterparts. It’s not black business owners. Their property, their business and their employees don’t mean anything. So which black lives matter again?”
The post continued its focus on the Black Lives Matter movement, before taking aim at the coronavirus response, mainstream media coverage, Democrats and others. The post then wrapped up with a prayer that God will heal the country.
The following morning, Bennett’s post popped up on several local Facebook groups, including Black Residents of Lansdale Area United, where the statements were near-universally decried as insensitive and unacceptable. It also drew the attention of North Penn School District officials, who publicly condemned the post as being in conflict with the district’s views:
"The comments do not align with the North Penn School District’s core values. The views expressed conflict with our work to develop a community that values diversity. We strive to acknowledge, respect, understand and celebrate the dynamics of racial and cultural differences …"
Officials placed Bennett on administrative leave on June 26, while they conducted an investigation into her comments. Later that evening, Bennett posted a public apology, which read, in full:
"All: I shared a post a few days back that was inappropriate. I didn’t realize at the time how it was going to be interpreted. I should have. It was something on my page and I should have been more aware. Up until recently, [Facebook] has always just been a way to keep up with my friends, their kids and dogs. I allowed all of the negativity to get to me and used poor judgement. Anything that I posted that was interpreted as racist was not my intent. A very wise person made me see that I was wrong. Anyone who was offended…I apologize. I plan to learn and grow from this experience so that my apology is not just words. I take responsibility for my poor actions and hope those of you who know me can eventually forgive me. I will be going off [Facebook] for awhile (sic), so I can focus on the positives. [Thanks] for listening.”
Like the first post, the apology was later deleted and Bennett’s Facebook page was deactivated soon after.
Bennett resigned, effective July 14, her resignation unanimously approved by the North Penn Board of School Directors during their July 16 business meeting. Both Superintendent Curt Dietrich and school board President Tina Stoll declined to comment on Bennett’s case after the meeting, according to
a report by Dan Sokil at The Reporter.
But North Penn School District Director of School and Community Engagement Christine Liberaski provided the following statement to North Penn Now later in July:
"Ms. Bennett resigned from the district and was not disciplined or recommended for termination prior to doing so. The district rejects any suggestion to the contrary and will have no further comment on this matter of threatened litigation.”
"At the very least, these administrators and this district needs counseling in regards to ethics, due process, (and) what the first amendment means,” Malofiy said Wednesday. "This isn’t about one person’s rights being affected. It goes far beyond this singular case of this singular school district. This is what’s happening throughout the nation.
"The way they’re approaching this is counter-intuitive to the basic tenets of the Constitution and diversity,” he said.
See also:
