Upset Over New Communications Plan, Becker Education Association Sues School District

(KNSI) — The Becker Public School District is being sued by its teachers’ union over its communication policy.

Education Minnesota affiliate Becker Education Association filed suit in Sherburne County Thursday to ask that the communications plan, approved in May, not be enforced. The lawsuit alleges the plan would prohibit staff from saying anything negative about the district to anyone who is not employed by the district.

According to union president Denise Specht, the plan essentially amounts to a gag order and violates free speech. “Educators should be able to speak the truth about what’s happening in their schools to parents and the rest of their communities. This gag order, and policies like it, are unacceptable. Our union will resist them everywhere.”

The union says the plan is so broad that it would prevent mandated reporters from informing law enforcement or other agencies about child abuse or neglect, allow the student to be subject to “uninterrupted abuse,” and “force teachers to choose between their employment and their statutory obligation.” They say it also would prevent a district employee who wanted to voice concerns at a school board meeting about budget cuts from saying anything if a parent or media member was in the room.

According to the lawsuit, “[The Becker Public School] district has adopted a policy that is antithetical to the values of public education, which encourage personal growth and debate. However, it is most relevant to the work of this Court that the policies are antithetical to the Minnesota Constitution and a range of Minnesota statutes.”

The co-presidents of the Becker Education Association had no additional comment about the lawsuit because “any such comment to the news media might reflect negatively on the district. Such a comment to the news media is currently prohibited and could expose the staff members to disciplinary action.”

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