A federal jury has concluded that a Pennsylvania school district violated a teacher’s constitutional rights by falsely claiming he participated in the January 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol.
After an 11-day trial, jurors found that the Allentown School District retaliated against Jason Moorehead by suspending him following the deadly insurrection in the nation’s capital. The jury alleged that he “was involved in the Electoral College protest that took place at the United States Capitol.”
Although Moorehead was in Washington, D.C., to attend Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally, he said he never came closer than a mile to the Capitol and was not among the rioters who stormed the building. He has never been charged with a crime.
Moorheadwho taught high school social studies, said individual school board members later organized a public smear campaign against him, even though his teaching record was impeccable. They claimed they were acting out of “ideological hatred.” He said the ordeal destroyed his reputation and ended his teaching career.
The jury ruled Friday that the district — one of the largest in the state with more than 16,000 students — must pay Moorehead $125,000 in economic damages. The jury also found that school board member Lisa Conover and former board President Nancy Wilt acted “maliciously or recklessly,” and ordered Conover to pay $6,000 in punitive damages and Wilt to pay $500.
One of the school district’s attorneys, Shorav Kaushik, said in a brief statement Thursday that “the district respects the jury’s verdict and is considering its legal options. It looks forward to continuing its mission to serve the Allentown community and the needs of its students and families.”
He said the district’s portion of the damages will be covered by his insurance company, while Conover and Wilt will be responsible for paying punitive damages. Conover and Wilt did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday and Thursday.
Moorehead, a Seattle native with 17 years of experience in the Allentown district, calls himself a conservative Republican and Trump supporter, but said he keeps his political views to himself as a teacher in a Democratic-leaning city. Allentown, a diverse, urban district about an hour north of Philadelphia, is the only place he’s ever taught.
He has not returned to the classroom in Allentown or anywhere else, and he said that would be very difficult unless the school district apologizes.
The jury’s verdict “is a good start,” Moorehead said in a telephone interview. “But I still want more accountability from the school district to clear my name in the community. … The community needs to hear from the district that I did nothing wrong and that I can safely return to an educational environment.”
Francis Malofiy, one of Moorehead’s attorneys, vowed to “really pressure the school districts and the board members to make a formal apology and set the record straight.”
It had not yet arrived on Thursday. Asked for an apology and a correction, Kaushik, the district attorney, said: “At this time, the district does not intend to make any further statements on this matter.”
During the trial, evidence showed that the district’s attorney and public relations firm advised district officials to issue a brief statement about a teacher who had been to Washington. Instead, top district officials signed a “longer, detailed, false statement without even speaking to Jason,” according to AJ Fluehr, another attorney for Moorehead.
The district also took issue with several of Moorehead’s social media posts about the events of January 6. At one point, Moorehead posted a selfie of himself on Facebook wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat and a Revolutionary War-era flag, with the caption, “Doing my civic duty!” Moorehead also shared a post that read, “Don’t worry everyone, the Capitol is secured,” adding his own one-word comment: “This.”
The school district told Moorehead his posts were “tasteless, insensitive, thoughtless, uncaring.”
Moorehead alleged in his complaint that the school district and senior officials punished him for his protected speech. The judge also instructed jurors that his attendance at meetings, his Facebook posts and his political affiliations were protected by the First Amendment.
“You still have the right to assemble, and you still have the right to free speech, and you can’t cancel that,” Malofiy said. “School board members tried to silence and cancel Jason Moorehead. That came back to haunt them.”
