From today's decision in Caggiano v. Duval County School Bd., decided by Florida Court of Appeal Judge Scott Makar, joined by Judges Harvey Jay and Adrian Soud:
Thomas Caggiano taught mathematics in the public school system of Duval County, Florida, for over twenty-five years with positive employment evaluations and no prior discipline. That was until he made politically tinged Facebook posts that led the Duval County School Board to initiate disciplinary charges against him. Caggiano contests the School Board's ruling that two of his posts violated the teacher code of conduct thereby justifying a three-day suspension, a reprimand, and diversity training….
The School Board asserted that seven of Caggiano's posts [posted around the time of the 2020 election] violated the teacher code of conduct. The hearing officer characterized the posts/reposts as "memes," describing them as "amusing or interesting pictures, videos, etc., that are spread widely through the internet or social media—or comments to memes or articles."
The hearing officer (also referred to as an administrative law judge) found that two of the seven posts did indeed violate the teacher code of conduct:
