Banksville Elementary
PITTSBURGH – The lawsuit of a former Pittsburgh Kindergarten teacher who claims she was punished for sharing a Facebook post should be sent to a jury, a federal magistrate judge recommends.
Denise Deltondo’s thoughts on privilege startled part of the community in the months leading up to the 2020 election and got her put on paid administrative leave for nearly five months before she resigned. Much of her case against the Pittsburgh School District has already been dismissed, but the rest should move on, Magistrate Judge Patricia Dodge wrote Feb. 13.
Judge William Stickman IV will now decide whether to adopt her report and recommendation, which concerns alleged First Amendment violations against the district, its school board and two employees. They argued Deltondo’s punishment was a result of disruption caused at Banksville Elementary.
“(T)he post was made during summer vacation and there is no conclusive evidence that disruption to the District generally or to Deltondo’s class or the school in which she taught was likely to occur,” Dodge wrote.
Deltondo, a self-described supporter of President Donald Trump, shared on her personal, private Facebook account on Aug. 9, 2020, a post that began “What is Privilege?”
“Privilege is wearing $200 sneakers when you’ve never had a job. Privilege is wearing $300 Beats headphones while living on public assistance. Privilege is having a Smartphone with a Data plan which you receive no bill for,” the post said.
“Privilege is living in public subsidized housing where you don’t have a water bill, where rising property taxes and rents and energy costs have absolutely no effect on the amount of food you can put on your table. Privilege is the ability to go march against, and protest against anything that triggers you, without worrying about calling out of work and the consequences that accompany such behavior.”
It then toward free meals and school programs “paid for by the people who DO HAVE TO DEAL WITH RISING TAXES AND COSTS!”
Deltondo captioned the post with “Awesome read!” – and claims she was then targeted as a “political opponent” by the defendants and other administrators in the Pittsburgh school system.
A local man named George Allen found Deltondo’s post and criticized it on his Facebook account, which has a significant following. The school district was alerted to it by others, as were local news outlets that reported on it.
The school district submitted a statement on Facebook and Twitter the next day about a “staff member” who “does not reflect the attitude or beliefs of our District.” Deltondo says this was in violation of its own policy against commenting on personnel matters.
Social-media comments against Deltondo showed the district the possibility students could be impacted and possibly be deprived of a bias-free education, it argued. After a September 2020 hearing, Deltondo was placed on paid administrative leave for an investigation that was never started, Dodge wrote.
Dodge added that Deltondo was speaking as a private citizen when she shared the post and not as an employee.
“That the Privilege Post mentioned children receiving a free breakfast (which was something Deltondo managed as part of her duties) and some of her Facebook friends were teachers does not transform the Privilege Post into speech by an employee,” Dodge wrote.
“Nor does the fact that George Allen and his followers (or indeed the public generally) were offended by the Privilege Post transform Deltondo’s speech into part of her official duties.”
