{"id":138598,"date":"2021-02-16T18:15:39","date_gmt":"2021-02-16T23:15:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=138598"},"modified":"2021-02-16T18:27:55","modified_gmt":"2021-02-16T23:27:55","slug":"fired-football-coach-sues-school-officials-for-retaliation-over-political-differences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fired-football-coach-sues-school-officials-for-retaliation-over-political-differences\/","title":{"rendered":"Fired Football Coach Sues School Officials for Retaliation Over Political Differences"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffired-football-coach-sues-school-officials-for-retaliation-over-political-differences%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=138598&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/141258184_10222883760114090_7592940423287456986_n.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A Massachusetts high school football coach is suing three public school district officials for retaliation after he was fired for questioning his daughter\u2019s seventh-grade world history curriculum.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dedham Public Schools superintendent Michael Welch announced in January that the district would not renew head coach David Flynn\u2019s contract because he &#8220;expressed significant philosophical differences&#8221; with the school district. Those differences surfaced last fall, according to a lawsuit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.judicialwatch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Flynn-v.-Forrest-et.-al.-21-cv-10256.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">filed<\/a> by Judicial Watch on Monday, when Flynn and his wife emailed a list of concerns about their daughter\u2019s world geography and ancient history class to Welch and Dedham school committee members. In one lesson, Flynn\u2019s daughter was asked to analyze a cartoon that depicted police officers as a &#8220;risk&#8221; to a black pedestrian.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"posts-content__category-widget md:hidden -ml-4 -mr-4 my-8 px-4 py-6 bg-gray-100\">\n<h4 class=\"mt-0 text-red-600 font-medium font-sans uppercase\">Recent Stories in Culture<\/h4>\n<ul class=\"list-none p-0\">\n<li class><a class=\"text-black block mb-3 pb-3 border-b border-white\" href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/culture\/fired-football-coach-sues-school-officials-for-retaliation-over-political-differences\/\"><strong>Fired Football Coach Sues School Officials for Retaliation Over Political Differences<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<li class><a class=\"text-black block mb-3 pb-3 border-b border-white\" href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/culture\/mavericks-no-longer-playing-national-anthem-before-games\/\"><strong>NBA&#8217;s Mavericks No Longer Playing National Anthem Before Games<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<li class><a class=\"text-black block mb-3 pb-3 border-b border-white\" href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/policy\/north-carolinas-first-black-lt-gov-leads-fight-against-radical-curriculum\/\"><strong>North Carolina&#8217;s First Black Lt. Gov. Leads Fight Against Radical Curriculum<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Flynn and his wife said parents were not made aware of curriculum updates that taught lessons on politics, bias, and race &#8220;unrelated&#8221; to a seventh-grade world history curriculum. The coursework, they said, was &#8220;not suitable for twelve- and thirteen-year-olds,&#8221; and even given its focus, the lessons were not taught &#8220;objectively.&#8221; Middle school history teacher Kim Randall created an avatar of herself for her online classroom that wore a Black Lives Matter T-shirt and used materials that depicted police officers as &#8220;risks&#8221; to black people and black people as &#8220;risks&#8221; to white people.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">After a series of emails and meetings with the superintendent and school committee members, Flynn and his wife felt the district officials failed to properly address their concerns. They removed their two children from the school district and sent them to a nearby Catholic school in October.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Flynns thought the move would resolve the conflict.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">But in January, Welch, Dedham High School principal Jim Forrest, and athletic director Stephen Traister met with Flynn and informed him that his contract would not be renewed. Flynn said that prior to the meeting, he had &#8220;never been provided any indication&#8221; that he would be fired.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Flynn sued Welch, Forrest, and Traister for firing him in retaliation and violating his First Amendment right to freedom of speech. According to the suit, he expressed his opposition to the district in his personal capacity as a parent and not as the district&#8217;s high school football coach.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Flynn had coached football at Dedham High School since 2002 and became head coach in 2011. Off the field, he works as a special education teacher in a town outside of Dedham.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The former coach is seeking damages for the emotional distress, loss of pay, and harassment caused by his firing.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In October\u2014around the same time that Flynn brought up concerns about his daughter\u2019s class\u2014the district hired diversity and inclusion officer Oneida Fox Roye.<\/span> Roye had previously worked in Boston Public Schools, where she&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/patch.com\/massachusetts\/dedham\/dedham-public-schools-welcomes-diversity-equity-officer\">added<\/a> &#8220;culturally and linguistically diverse&#8221; readings to the K-12 curriculum.<\/p>\n<p>In December, Roye said that history education in the United States is one of a handful of factors that contribute to racism.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When people say that they don&#8217;t have a racist bone in their body, they\u2019re usually saying they\u2019re not racist,&#8221; Oneida <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/OFoxRoye\/status\/1340382643897200641\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">tweeted<\/a>. &#8220;Yet, there is no way that you inherit privilege from birth, learn history in our schools, work in our country, watch television and films, and not be [sic] racist.&#8221;<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Since Flynn&#8217;s firing, hundreds of Dedham High School parents and community members have rallied behind the coach.&nbsp;Members of a &#8220;Save Coach Flynn&#8221; Facebook group called for district officials to &#8220;right their injustice and reinstate Flynn as head coach.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&#8220;A parent\u2019s voice was silenced and the athletes and community at large is [sic] also being punished,&#8221; a draft of the parents\u2019 letter said. &#8220;And to add to his injustice, the administration chose very specific language to discredit Dave Flynn\u2019s good name, strong reputation, and possibly his career as a special needs teacher. This defamation is unforgivable.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Supporters\u2014including parents, students, and football players\u2014have held several rallies and demonstrations outside of Dedham High School. One of Flynn\u2019s former players said he was &#8220;devastated&#8221; that his former coach&#8217;s contract was not renewed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&#8220;Coach Flynn is an awesome guy and we&#8217;re all devastated that they fired him.&#8221; Kevin O&#8217;Leary&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wcvb.com\/article\/dedham-students-protest-football-coach-change\/35283001#\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told<\/a> WCVB. &#8220;Coach Flynn and Dedham football, it&#8217;s like broccoli and cheese sauce, can&#8217;t have one without the other.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"my-8 hide-print\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1526555381173-4\" class=\"mobile-250 desktop-90\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Massachusetts high school football coach is suing three public school district officials for retaliation after he was fired for questioning his daughter\u2019s seventh-grade world history curriculum. Dedham Public Schools &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2181381,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/141258184_10222883760114090_7592940423287456986_n.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Fired Football Coach Sues School Officials for Retaliation Over Political Differences","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-138598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/141258184_10222883760114090_7592940423287456986_n.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Fired Football Coach Sues School Officials for Retaliation Over Political Differences","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2181381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}