A substitute teacher at Beverly Hills High School announced Tuesday morning that she’s suing the school district that fired her, alleging her First Amendment rights were violated when she was terminated for writing Facebook posts criticizing President Trump.
In November 2024, Joanie Garratt started a monthlong substitute-teaching assignment to prepare students for the AP U.S. History exam and was terminated that same month. She said her online political posts were cited as the reason for her firing.
According to a lawsuit filed Monday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Garratt’s social media posts were made on her personal page and were done outside school hours. Garratt filed the lawsuit against Beverly Hills Unified School District, alleging violation of the California Labor Code and the First Amendment. Garratt is seeking unspecified damages.
“I loved my 30 years with the district,” Garratt told The Times. “To me, it was like a family. I was so dedicated to my job and I was so emotionally traumatized by what had happened. I lost a lot of weight. I could not believe that my school district would be so extreme with me over a Facebook post that I don’t even consider a big deal. It wasn’t the first time I had written something critical of the district or MAGA.”
The school district didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Other educators have gotten fired or reprimanded in recent years over anti-Trump and anti-Israel remarks.
A San José State University professor was terminated after she took park in campus protests related to the Gaza war two years ago. The Cal State faculty union ruled earlier this summer that she must be reinstated as a tenured professor.
The complaint filed by Garratt alleges that “unlike a pro-Trump rally which took place on school grounds during school hours, nothing in Ms. Garratt’s Facebook post disrupted or impacted any school activities.
“BHUSD, through threats, intimidation, and coercion, violated her Constitutional rights and subjected her to an adverse employment action when it wrongfully terminated her from her substitute position at Beverly Hills High School for exercising her First Amendment rights.”
On Nov. 6, 2024, a group of mostly male students held a pro-Trump rally at Beverly Hills High School, in which they wore “Make America Great Again” T-shirts and hats, toted at least two Trump cardboard cutouts and cheered loudly as a school security guard brandished a Trump banner.
According to the lawsuit, the demonstrators made “racist and threatening actions towards other students,” including toward Bella Ivory, a teacher and administrator of the Black Student Union. Ivory said that rally members harassed BSU members by banging on her door and trying to open it. Some students said they were called the N-word.
Around a dozen Black students expressed their concerns during a Board of Trustees meeting, saying they were harassed, intimidated and targeted with racial slurs. BHHS Principal Drew Stewart sent a message to families saying the school would protect students’ free speech but would limit their ability to congregate in large groups so that all students felt safe on campus.
On Nov. 7, 2024, Garratt wrote on Facebook that pro-Trump students “harassed & intimidated many other non-maga students and specifically targeted the class where the Black Student Union was meeting, yelling all kinds of racial slurs.”
“Some students arrived at school truly upset & even crying only to be bullied later by their classmates,” she added. She wrote that Trump, and not the school administration, was to blame for this behavior.
Garratt also wrote that she was “ashamed to be an American” and that Trump supporters “worship a fascist.” Garratt, who is Jewish, also said some Jews had “aligned with the devil” in supporting Trump.
On Nov. 13, 2024, Assistant Superintendent Matthew Horvath emailed Garratt referencing her Facebook post and asked to meet the following day, according to the lawsuit. During a phone call, Horvath told Garratt that the school didn’t want her back in the classroom due to her Facebook post and terminated her employment. Following the call, Garratt emailed Horvath confirming that she had been fired from her teaching assignment due to her posts on Facebook. Horvath didn’t respond, she said.
The lawsuit cites BHUSD school board policy, stating, “an employee’s personal beliefs and activities, including religious, political, cultural, social or other beliefs or activities, or lack thereof, shall not be grounds for disciplinary action against the employee, provided that the beliefs or activities do not violate law, board policy or administrative regulations.”
Garratt later posted on Facebook that she was dismissed from her position, writing, “I WEAR THIS AS BADGE OF HONOR and stand with all the teachers, past & present, who will be persecuted for expressing their views in public forum. SHAME ON BHUSD.”
“Joanie was a beloved, trusted teacher,” said her attorney, V. James DeSimone. “Everybody says how great she was. It’s the students who really lost out here. They’re taking an AP US History class and they had another sub come in who was not even a history teacher. They not only hurt a wonderful teacher who deserved better but they hurt the students. That’s who we should all be there for.”
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