A teacher in Allentown, Pennsylvania, says he will sue the school district there because it falsely accused him of participating in the protest that swept over the U.S. Capitol on January 6.
James Moorehead, a Trump-supporting conservative, was in Washington, D.C., that day. He was never near the Capitol, but the district suspended him after he posted photographs of his visit on social media.
Though Moorehead did nothing wrong, he says, his reputation is ruined.
School Super’s Letter
The trouble for Moorehead began when the school superintendent, Thomas Parker, published a letter about his attending the rally without naming him. It was mostly the usual boilerplate bureaucratese, but contained two claims that Moorehead was involved in the “mob” that moved into the Capitol Hill as police watched.
Allentown Super's PDF“On January 7, 2021, the Allentown School District (ASD) was made aware of a staff member who was involved in the electoral college protest that took place at the United States Capitol Building on January 6, 2021,” Parker began.
While the district understands the First Amendment, he wrote, the teacher had to be suspended:
Because of the emotion and controversy stirred by the events of January 6, 2021, the teacher has been temporarily relieved of his teaching duties until the School District can complete a formal investigation of his involvement.
Problem is, Moorehead says, an “investigation” won’t show anything; he wasn’t at the Capitol.
Moorehead told Allentown’s Morning Call that his reputation is ruined, his family frightened.
Moorehead said “his reputation has been destroyed and his family is fearful because of the backlash from the district’s statement that he says incorrectly connected him with the violent uprising at the U.S. Capitol,” the newspaper reported: “While he attended a rally for then-President Donald Trump that day, he was never near the Capitol building. But he did post photos of his trip on social media.”
Moorehead, the newspaper reported, “posted a picture of himself wearing a ‘Make America Great Again”’ hat and carrying a Revolutionary War flag on Facebook with the caption ‘Doing my civic duty.’ He also shared a tweet by someone else that said, ‘Don’t worry everyone the capitol is insured,’ to which Moorehead added ‘This.’”
Moorehead’s comment about insurance riffs off left-wing terror apologists. That’s what they said after Antifa and Black Lives Matter “activists” burned and destroyed private businesses during nationwide rioting.
But again, he wasn’t at the Capitol and didn’t break any laws.
“I was never any closer than a mile from the riot that happened, which I didn’t know about until much later,” he told the newspaper. “We walked around the Washington Monument, tried to get closer to the White House, ate a hot dog and then went back to the bus.”
Apology, Please
But that isn’t how it played out back home when the school district published Parker’s letter and posted it to Facebook, a post that has received more than 700 comments.
Thanks to the unwarranted accusation, Moorehead said, he’s left social media, won’t answer his phone, and has drawn the curtains at his home. He was also doxxed.
More than that, his reputation is shot. Students don’t trust him.
“I don’t know how I can get that trust back. I don’t know how I can get that reputation back,” the 17-year teaching veteran told the newspaper. “I’m shocked that this happened and I’m scared about my future.”
Moorehead’s attorney says the district ignored a request for an apology.
“My client has been very very patient in hoping that the school district would do the right thing and at this point, it seems inevitable that we will be filing a lawsuit,” Francis Malofiy told the newspaper. He said the district’s claim is “defamatory.”
Moorehead said he does not impose his conservatism on his students, the Morning Call reported, but instead wants them to be “critical thinkers and to form their own opinion, one that they can be proud to have.”
Added Malofiy, “we talk about diversity of people but we have forgotten about diversity of speech and opinion.”
Comments at the district’s Facebook post show that many believe Moorhead was at the Capitol building and participated in the violence.
“What he was a part of was an angry mob followed by a riot,” one poster said.
Another accused him of rebellion and insurrection.
“This was not a ‘protest’ it was in fact domestic terrorism,” another said. “He should’ve never been there to begin with.”
But Moorehead wasn’t “there to begin with.”
H/T: Legal Insurrection
