The recent case of Fox v. Traverse City Area Public Schools (2010 WL 1948203) serves as a good reminder that the speech of public school employees is not always “protected speech” as most of us have come to understand that term in the context of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

[Editor's Note: MySpace is a social networking site whose former popularity has been eclipsed by other services, such as Facebook and Twitter. While referencing MySpace may date the following post, the underlying concepts are nonetheless highly applicable to current issues. - 2011]

To read press accounts, one would think that Stacey Snyder was dismissed from her teacher preparation program at Millersville University solely because she posted a picture of herself on her myspace site with the caption “drunken pirate” posted underneath. However, like most press accounts, there’s more to the story…much more.