Prior Lake Teacher Sues School District Over Social Media Posts

A Prior lake teacher is suing her school district for disciplining her for an immigration-related social media post, alleging that her constitutional rights were violated.

Brooke Zahn,who teaches fourth grade at Jeffers Pond Elementary school in the Prior lake-Savage Area Schools district,said in her lawsuit that she was “punished” because of her personal use of social media. She reshared an image last December advocating for deporting families with mixed immigration status back to their native countries. She was previously disciplined for making posts in 2021 that promoted anti-masking during the COVID-19 pandemic; that incident is also part of her lawsuit.

“I love my job as a teacher, and I am proud of my right to free speech,” Zahn said in a news release issued last Friday about the lawsuit. “The district’s decision to punish me for my private opinions was wrong. I am standing up for my rights as a citizen and to ensure this doesn’t happen to other teachers.”

The district said in an email statement to the Sahan Journal that it would not comment on pending litigation.Zahn filed her lawsuit in federal court last week; she did not respond to requests seeking comment.

Earlier this year, Zahn sent a letter to the district threatening to sue if they did not provide back pay for her seven-day suspension, issue a formal apology and rescind the disciplinary action against her. Zahn’s attorney,Doug Seaton,told Sahan Journal Tuesday that the district refused to fulfill her requests.

Seaton said he’s “very confident” that Zahn’s lawsuit will succeed, citing a 2022 lawsuit his law firm won representing a group of parents and students who sued Lakeville area Schools over teachers displaying “Black Lives Matter” posters in class. The lakeville school district paid the law firm $30,000 to settle the lawsuit this past April,and teachers took down the posters.

Zahn’s lawsuit is asking the district for monetary relief of “lost wages” and time she spent taking a cultural competency class as part of her 2024 discipline. She is also requesting that the district remove the 2024 and 2021 disciplinary letters from her personnel file.