Philadelphia teachers file First Amendment lawsuit over retaliation for asbestos protest

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Three teachers from the Julia R. Masterman Laboratory and Demonstration School in Philadelphia filed a lawsuit against the Philadelphia school district, alleging they were punished for expressing concerns over asbestos exposure in school. 

Key Player

The Julia R. Masterman Laboratory and Demonstration School is a public magnet middle and secondary school. It is based in the School District of Philadelphia, which oversees all public schools in the city.  

Further Details

In August 2021, before students returned for the fall semester, a dozen Philadelphia teachers from Masterman reported to work, but completed their instructional planning outdoors, in 102-degree heat. “We do not feel safe in the building,” Ethan Tannen, one of the teachers, told reporters.

Reportedly, the teachers had moved outdoors because of concerns over asbestos contamination in the school. They only agreed to return inside once they saw evidence that the building was safe to enter. 

Concerns began in January 2020, when members of the Masterman Home and School Association, a coalition of students and teachers, began working with the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers to address concerns about asbestos exposure. Parents alleged that they were refused requests for documentation concerning asbestos damages and ongoing repairs.

On Aug. 25, 50 teachers announced they would work outside the next day to call attention to their concerns over building transparency; they demanded access to documents about ongoing renovations and the safety status of the building. “We’re not going back in until we see those. Because we care about our safety and we care about our students’ safety,” Tannen said.

Amid the protests, during which the teachers fully completed their responsibilities, representatives from district headquarters ordered them to stop the demonstration and return inside, but the teachers declined to comply. As a consequence, they were marked absent and docked pay. 

In the lead-up to the protest, a district representative claimed that the building had already been deemed safe. In a statement, the school district assured several repairs were already made to the building, and that Masterman would not be given heightened accommodation compared to other buildings in the district.

“While we appreciate the concerns expressed, it would be inappropriate for the District to single out one school community for a heightened level of attention beyond regulatory requirements” the statement reads.

Outcome

On Aug. 18, 2023, nearly two years after the protest, Tannen and two other teachers, Carolyn Gray and Karen Celli, filed a lawsuit in federal court, complaining they had been subject to retaliation that violated the First Amendment.

The teachers said they had been unfairly reprimanded, maintaining that they fulfilled their duties and assignment responsibilities by setting up Wi-Fi routers outdoors and remaining on school property. The suit alleges that by penalizing the teachers, the district violated their Free Speech rights, as well as their rights to petition the government for a redress of grievances. 

“The [teachers] were engaged in speech and petitioning activity protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution when they interacted with the press and public and worked from the patio outside the Masterman school building,” the lawsuit states. 

The complaint further alleges that school officials only wanted to usher the teachers inside to prevent their communication with the press, a violation of their right to protest.

As of Nov. 13, 2023, there were no further developments.