In our Brave New World of social networking, IM, Skype and the blogosphere ,the ability of teachers to “speak” to their students, parents and colleagues knows no bounds. The number and frequency of teacher blogs seems to grow daily.
Does the First Amendment protect teachers from principal retribution for comments made on the range of Internet platforms? Does the First Amendment protect teachers from comments made directly to principals? to students? from comments made at public meetings?
The courts divide teacher speech in two categories, “protected” and “unprotected” speech.
There is considerable case law re teacher freedom of speech outside the classroom. In landmark decisionPickering v Board of Education (1968) the US Supreme Court wrote,
Free and open debate is vital to informed decision-making by the electorate. Teachers are, as a class, the members of a community most likely to have informed and definite opinions … operation…
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Crazy Normal - the Classroom Exposé 
jprealini
December 5, 2014 at 12:28
So, when I work for the government which is established under the Constitution, I do not have the right to speak freely as guaranteed by the Constitution. So we truly have through these Orwellian manifestations of the Supreme Court transformed from “We the people” to “The Government for the People.”
Freedom has, since the dawn of civilisation, rested on our right to live our lives free from arbitrary interference and monitoring by the state. Orwell’s message was that without democratic control and rigorous accountability, without a presumption of privacy and freedom of thought, the coming technology of surveillance had the capacity to extinguish most of what it means to be human.
Lloyd Lofthouse
December 5, 2014 at 14:22
Scary what someone else like, for instance, the Koch brothers or members of the Walton family could do to the rest of us once they finish buying the state and federal government thanks to Citizens United—-who thought up that stupid name anyway?