PITTSBURGH – The Pittsburgh School District and its entire Board of Education have defended the firing of a former veteran teacher, arguing that her posting of a right-wing article on her personal Facebook page accompanied by racist language was an offense punishable by termination.
Denise Deltondo first filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania on Feb. 25 versus the Pittsburgh School District, various administrators within the District, the Pittsburgh Board of Education and all of its members.
Deltondo, a self-described supporter of former President Donald Trump, shared a post on her personal Facebook account on Aug. 9, 2020, of a news report that the plaintiff claims “pointed out the hypocrisy of those who rely on public assistance complaining about ‘privilege’ while profligately spending that public assistance and living a life without the responsibility assumed by taxpayers.”
Deltondo captioned the post with “Awesome read!” – and claims she was then targeted as a “political opponent” by the defendants and other administrators in the Pittsburgh school system of opposing ideology.
According to Deltondo, Pittsburgh School District’s then-superintendent Anthony Hamlet publicly criticized her on Facebook and Twitter on Aug. 10, 2020, before even attempting to contact her, with Hamlet writing that her post “does not reflect the attitude or beliefs of our District.”
Local news outlets began to report on the matter, and Deltondo found herself suspended by the District the following day.
The suit claimed the District then undertook a “fraudulent” process to make it appear as though she was receiving a fair hearing, beginning on Sept. 10, 2020. On that day, the District scheduled a “due process hearing” for the following week, which Deltondo called “a sham.”
At the hearing, Deltondo alleged the District never specifically identified what charges it was levying against her and what its evidence was, aside from calling her a racist and wanting to know her reasons for sharing the Facebook post.
Deltondo said she then heard nothing for three months, until the District mailed her a letter on Dec. 22, 2020 explaining that she had been fired.
“The letter itself is an illegitimate screed personally attacking plaintiff and her politics, and confirming beyond a shadow of a doubt that plaintiff was terminated based on the content of her opinions and her political affiliation. The letter conclusorily asserts that plaintiff is ‘racist’ and then laundry lists almost every possible charge in the School Code, many of which do not even have the remotest applicability to such a situation: immorality, incompetency, intemperance, cruelty, persistent negligence in the performance of her duties, willful neglect of her duties, persistent and willful violation of or a failure to comply with school laws of this Commonwealth,” the suit said.
“None of these charges had previously been raised with Denise at any point, and certainly not at the Sept. 17, 2020 meeting. The laundry listing of these allegations, most of which have no hypothetical applicability to this situation, is proof of political animus and lack of fairness in the process being afforded to plaintiff. This is a political persecution and the pre-determined goal was to get rid of plaintiff by any means possible.”
UPDATE
The defendants filed an answer on April 29, defending its decision to fire Deltondo and accusing her of voluntarily resigning her own employment when the District allegedly failed to comply with a $1 million pre-suit settlement demand.
“Ms. Deltondo claims that the United States Constitution affords her the unfettered right to say whatever she wants, whenever she wants and in whatever forum she likes – regardless of her statement’s impact. That has never been the case, and it is certainly not the case here. The First Amendment does not protect a public school teacher’s right to endorse and promote racist views to the detriment of the public school system and the students it serves,” their answer stated.
“Deltondo, a former Kindergarten teacher in the Pittsburgh Public School System, enthusiastically endorsed and shared a social media post with clearly racist undertones to make a point: Black people are privileged because they receive benefits they have neither earned nor deserve. Two days before her scheduled hearing on disciplinary charges related to the offensive post, Deltondo – with and through her counsel – resigned her employment rather than defend her actions, indignant that defendants failed to accede to her $1,000,000 pre-complaint settlement demand.”
The defendants add that the Board members’ conduct is protected by qualified immunity, that the due process allegations fail because Deltondo resigned and waived her disciplinary hearing, that Deltondo’s First Amendment speech retaliation claim fails because her Facebook post harboring clearly racist undertones was not protected speech, and that the First Amendment political association claim fails because the complaint does not allege that political affiliation was a substantial or motivating factor in the plaintiff’s discipline.
For counts of First Amendment violation and retaliation for free expression and political affiliation, Fourteenth Amendment procedural due process violation and declaratory and equitable relief, the plaintiff is seeking a long list of reliefs:
• A name-clearing hearing and public retraction and correction;
• Compensatory damages, inclusive of any and all harm attributable to defendants’ actions or inaction, including loss of earnings, loss of career, reputational/stigma damage,
• Mental and emotional pain and suffering;
• Punitive damages to punish the defendants for their outrageous conduct, self-interest and duplicitous behavior, reckless and callous indifference to plaintiff’s rights, and evil motives;
• Exemplary damages to set an example for others;
• Attorneys’ fees, costs and court costs under Section 1988;
• Interest;
• Pre-judgment interest;
• Delay damages;
• Other equitable relief that may be necessary to enforce plaintiff’s rights; and,
• Such other and further relief and/or equitable relief that this Court deems just and/or necessary.
The plaintiff is represented by Alfred Joseph Fluehr of Francis Alexander, in Media.
The defendants are represented by Jennifer S. Park, Myah A. Cummings and Samantha L. Cook of Denton Cohen & Grigsby, plus Ira Weiss of Weiss Burkardt Kramer, all in Pittsburgh.
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania case 2:22-cv-00350
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com