Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, PUBLIC EMPLOYEES—Alaska Sup. Ct.: School principal who altered school logo was fired for violating anti-harassment policy, (Mar 19, 2025)

By Thomas K. Lauletta, J.D.

The principal was entitled to back pay because of the school board’s failure to provide due process in a pretermination hearing.

The Supreme Court of Alaska upheld a school board’s firing of a principal for incompetence and “substantial noncompliance with school laws of the state.” The termination was related to the principal’s creation of a wooden coaster as a retirement gift to a friend. Viewing an image of the coaster, the school board and several members of the school community thought it was racist and demeaned Alaska Native peoples. The coaster utilized the school district’s official logo but changed portions of the logo to include vulgarities and statements that could be interpreted as attacking school policies and students. Because of a failure to provide due process in a pretermination hearing, however, the principal was entitled to back pay (Stirling v. North Slope Borough School District, No. S-18853 (Alaska Sup. Ct. Mar. 14, 2025)).

In January 2022, the principal went to his school during off-hours and created a wooden coaster as a retirement gift to a friend. The coaster featured a modification of the school district’s official logo, which contains an illustration of Alaska Native children performing a traditional blanket toss and the motto “Striving for Excellence” along with the district’s name.

Altered. In the coaster, around the district logo, the principal wrote the text “Congratulations You survived NSBSD” and “Time for a f***ing drink,” and included an image of two beer mugs. Inside the logo he replaced the district’s motto with “Striving for Excrement” and the district’s name with “New Stupid Behaviors Starting Daily.” The principal did not alter the illustration in the middle of the district’s official logo, which contained the image of the children.

A teacher who obtained an image of the coaster posted pictures of it on Facebook, along with a caption stating the coasters were disrespectful to Alaska Native peoples. A screenshot taken in April 2022 shows that the Facebook post generated at least 285 reactions, 298 shares, and 29 comments.

Terminated. The district terminated the principal’s employment after holding both a pretermination hearing and a post-termination hearing. The Alaska Supreme Court upheld the superior court decision that ruled in favor of the district’s firing of the principal. However, finding that the district’s pretermination hearing did not adequately protect the principal’s due process rights, the court ruled that the principal was entitled to back pay.

Reasonable basis for the termination. Rejecting the principal’s arguments to the contrary, the state high court ruled that the school board presented substantial evidence to justify the termination of the principal’s employment for incompetence. The district had concluded that it was impossible for the principal to perform his duties once he printed the coaster that the school community found to be “offensive and demeaning.” The district’s action was also supported by the principal’s statement that he could not return to his school if the majority of the community thought he was a racist.

Free speech arguments. The principal argued that his termination was improper because it violated his right to free speech. However, the court found that any free speech rights of the principal were outweighed by the school board’s legitimate interest in fulfilling its responsibilities to its students and the public. Under Ninth Circuit precedent, a court may consider “whether students and parents have expressed concern that the plaintiff’s conduct has disrupted the school’s normal operations, or has eroded the public trust between the school and members of its community.” Accordingly, under the facts presented, the court held that the firing did not violate the principal’s free speech rights.

Adequacy of pretermination hearing. Although the defect was cured at a later post-termination hearing, the district had failed in the pretermination hearing to notify the principal that he had the right to call witnesses. This meant that the pretermination hearing failed to meet constitutional due process requirements. Accordingly, the court held that the principal was entitled to back pay from the time of his termination on February 3, 2022, until the conclusion of the board’s post-termination hearing on April 25.

The case is No. S-18853.

Judge: Henderson, J.

Attorneys: Jennifer M. Coughlin (Landye Bennett Blumstein) for R. Brett Stirling. Allen F. Clendaniel (Sedor, Wendlandt, Evans & Filippi) for North Slope Borough School District.

Companies: North Slope Borough School District

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