Teacher suspended for removing pro-Trump items from yearbook wants gag order removed

A Wall High School teacher who was suspended and lost her job as the school yearbook advisor wants to have a gag order against her removed so that she can tell her side of the story.

News 12 Staff

May 10, 2019, 10:33 PM

Updated 1,952 days ago

Share:

A Wall High School teacher who was suspended and lost her job as the school yearbook advisor wants to have a gag order against her removed so that she can tell her side of the story.
Christopher Eibeler, an attorney for teacher Susan Parsons, filed a motion with the court to remove a Wall Township School District policy preventing school students and employees from speaking to the media without authorization form Superintendent Cheryl Dyer.
Eibeler says that Parsons' First Amendment rights are being violated, preventing her from telling her story.
Parsons was suspended after it was discovered that she removed pro-President Donald Trump items from the 2017 school yearbook. She also lost her position as the yearbook adviser. But Parsons says that she was only acting on orders from the school’s principal and the principal secretary.
“We are disappointed that the district will not lift the media gag order on Susan Parsons,” Eibeler says in a statement. “…Susan Parsons has been subjected to death threats and other harassment as a result of not only being falsely blamed, but of not being able to defend herself through her own voice."
Betsy Cross is the mother of a freshman at Wall High School. She says that she has been an outspoken critic of the current school administration since the yearbook issue first came to light.
“We've lost good teachers and we’re worried may lose more good teachers. People don't want to work in this environment,” she says.
Cross adds, “Things need to change, people need to speak up. They shouldn't be in fear, they are absolutely in fear and I think there will be more lawsuits coming."
Parsons' attorney says that he expected to hear from the court by the end of Friday.