ADVERSE EMPLOYMENT ACTIONS AND PUBLIC SCHOOL ...

factor in his non-renewal. However, the court did not err in vacating the “presumed damages”
award, which were not allowed under a § 1983 First Amendment claim. Finally, because the
court found that Lewis’ speech was protected the defendants were not entitled to qualified
immunity.
Reasoning: The district court’s finding that Lewis’s speech was not protected was
incorrect. The appellate court found that Lewis’s speech was of a public concern as evidenced by
the public notice of a special meeting placed in the local newspaper. Moreover, the high number
of individuals present in comparison to normal board meetings and the two separate petitions
filed by teachers and community members in protest of Judy Lewis’s reassignment both
displayed that this decision was of a public concern. This finding was measured against Connick
v. Myers (1983) and passed the test. Next, the court found that when applying the Pickering
balancing test that the scales tipped in favor of Lewis on each point. First, the court determined
that Lewis’ speech was not so disharmonious that he and Humble could not effectively work
together henceforth. Second, the speech was not so strong as to warrant its suppression. Lewis’s
speech was not going to impair the efficient operation of schools the court deemed. Third, the
setting was appropriate for the speech as it was a specially called meeting for the topic. Fourth,
the public concern of the speech weighed heavily in favor of Lewis as the amount of community
members evidenced. Thus, Lewis’s speech passed the Pickering balance. As to the damages
being set aside, the court noted that no evidence was put forth to substantiate the monetary
awards. Therefore, these damages were “presumed damages” and not allowed under § 1983.
Finally, the court ruled that because the board had violated Lewis’s First Amendment rights it
was not entitled to qualified immunity. As the court noted, Humble and the board needed no
professional legal training to understand that they could not terminate Lewis for his speech.
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