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Gail Nazarene is a veteran, grandmother, and elected member of the Alloway Township Board of Education. She wants to speak with her constituents about issues concerning the Alloway school district. She wants to solicit views about matters such as raising school taxes, funding, budgets, and operations. In other words, she wants to exercise her First Amendment rights. 

But the New Jersey Commissioner of Education and School Ethics Commission interpret the  to bar elected officials like Gail from discussing issues relating to schools on social media. And this isn’t the first time it’s done so. The School Ethics Commission has previously  elected officials against engaging with constituents on social media and previously interpreted the Act to prevent elected school board members from discussing matters of public concern  and . 

In April, Gail used Facebook to discuss tax increases and other school issues with constituents. In one post, she asked, “As a resident of Alloway, I am wondering what other residents think about a 9-15% school tax increase?” She clarified in her posts that she was asking in her personal capacity. But another school board member saw the posts and filed a complaint against her, claiming Gail had violated the School Ethics Act because she allegedly had spoken on the board’s behalf. The complaint is pending before the state’s School Ethics Commission. 

Under the state’s interpretation, the School Ethics Act prevents Nazarene and thousands of other elected school board members in New Jersey from communicating with constituents about issues of public concern. That violates the First Amendment. 

So FIREis representing Gail to prevent New Jersey from abusing the law to chill her speech and prevent her from using social media to seek input from her constituents. FIREmoved for a preliminary injunction to allow Gail to start speaking with her constituents again as soon as possible.