Eagle Point school district violated union members' constitutional rights, federal judge says
Source: Mail Tribune
By Thomas Moriarty
Jackson County School District 9 violated the constitutional rights of teachers’ union members and should be held accountable, a federal judge recommended Monday.
The Eagle Point Education Association had sued the district in federal court in Medford over restrictions officials placed on striking teachers during a dispute over contract negotiations in 2012. In a report and recommendation, Magistrate Judge Mark D. Clarke wrote that the schools have to maintain a delicate balance between their responsibilities to protect and educate students and their obligation to ensure the free-speech rights of both students and staff.
"The court is confident that with good faith negotiation and collaboration between the school district and the teachers, all of these important objectives could have been met," Clarke wrote. "Instead, the school district, on the eve of the strike, unilaterally imposed broad, sweeping resolutions as a clear prior restraint on a particular viewpoint, without any showing that the restrictions were necessary to protect the manner of the school district and without any thoughtful analysis as to reasonable time, place and manner restrictions."
FULL story at link.
Read more: http://www.mailtribune.com/article/20150407/NEWS/150409655/101067/NEWS
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