Fired Tiverton teacher Amy Mullen gets her job back after judges ruling – newportri.com

"Never once was her teaching called into question," U.S. District Court Chief Justice John J. McConnell Jr. said.

Amy Mullen has her job back with the Tiverton School Department.

U.S. District Court Chief Justice John J. McConnell Jr., ruling on a preliminary injunction Friday morning, said Mullens First Amendment rights were violated when she was terminated from her teaching job April 15 for speaking up about wanting to discuss distance learning as it pertained to her member teachers. Mullen is head of the teachers union.

In granting the preliminary injunction filed by attorney Elizabeth Wiens, the judge ordered that Mullen "be restored as a teacher until further notice. No doubt Ms. Mullen was retaliated against because of her First Amendment speech," McConnell said from the bench at the end of a virtual hearing.

"Never once was her teaching called into question" in the 25 years Mullen has worked for the district as a special education teacher, McConnell said, adding that she is considered "an exemplary teacher."

Four attorneys were representing the School Department two were from the Interlocal Trust, the insurance carrier for the town. There was no ruling on their motion to dismiss the case Mullen brought against the district.

McConnell said he would take the motion to dismiss under advisement "but at least part will be denied," he said. He said he was "bothered" by the individual suits against individual members of the School Committee who voted to terminate Mullen on the recommendation of Superintendent Peter Sanchioni.

"Shell be back on the payroll as of today," School Committee attorney Stephen Robinson said Friday afternoon. "We clearly will respect the courts orders," Robinson said, but added they "respectfully disagree with the judge in his findings of fact and conclusions of law. We will explore our options."

Wiens wrote in the motion for preliminary injunction that Mullen should be reinstated immediately, noting in the 15-page motion that less than two years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court held that "union speech is overwhelmingly of substantial public concern."

Wiens also wrote that "there can be no doubt that speech relating to public education, including the creation of a Distance Learning Plan for students during a global pandemic is a matter of public concern." Mullens speech, Wiens wrote, "was the sole factor" in her termination.

In providing background, Wiens said Sanchioni "repeatedly violated the collective bargaining agreement" between the School Department and NEA-Tiverton, and because of numerous grievances and unfair labor practice complaints filed by the union, there was "animus towards Mullen."

On March 12, 2020, Mullen attended a professional development committee meeting and communicated to the superintendent that online learning plans need to be negotiated with the union. She learned of a March 18 meeting for a distance learning plan and she arrived early to say the union should be part of the discussion.

"Sanchioni raised his voice, told Mullen she was not invited to the meeting and told her he would write her up for insubordination if she did not leave," according to the motion.

She was placed on paid administrative leave on March 21 and told to cease and desist all communications with parents, teachers and administrators, or there would be further discipline, Wiens wrote. An April 6 letter to Mullen from the superintendent notified her of his intent to recommend to the School Committee that she be suspended without pay for "her persistent disruption and insubordination." A Facebook post she made "violated the gag order," it was later charged.

The School Committee voted unanimously April 14 to terminate Mullen, but voted again at a meeting in May to suspend without pay and terminate her at the end of the 2020-2021 school year. That vote was 4-0, with committee member Sally Black abstaining. Voting in favor was Chairman Jerome Larkin, Vice Chairwoman Diane Farnworth, Deborah Pallasch and Elaine Pavao.

Mullen filed suit soon after her termination, saying she was retaliated against by the district for speaking on behalf of her union members. The district said she was terminated for "unprofessional and disruptive behavior."

In a June 17 email to Mullen, who wanted to be on the School Reopening Committee as a representative of the teachers union, she was advised by School Department legal counsel that she was not allowed on school property and not permitted to speak with school staff or administrators because of her suspension, Wiens wrote.

Much of the discussion at the hearing Friday morning centered on whether Mullen was speaking as an employee of the district, or as a private citizen at the distance learning meetings.

"The speech took place in the workplace. It had to do with work-related issues," said attorney Marc DeSisto, representing the Interlocal Trust. "When a union president speaks, that union official is speaking in a workplace official capacity and not as a private citizen," DeSisto argued, saying union and public employee "are symbiotic."

He said the court "was crossing out union and making it outside the employee realm. "It goes back to whether she spoke as a private citizen" and was protected by First Amendment speech, or spoke as an employee subject to disciplinary action.

Wiens told the judge that "every court has found that speech as a union representative is not speech as an employee. We allege Amy Mullen was terminated because of her association with the union. The reason for the termination was her status as union president."

Wiens also argued the Tiverton School Department and the individual members of the School Committee who voted to terminate her and thus violated her First Amendment rights, should be held liable for damages for violating the Constitution.

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Fired Tiverton teacher Amy Mullen gets her job back after judges ruling - newportri.com