Football Coach Fired After Facebook Posts Can’t Show Retaliation

A Tennessee high school football coach’s free speech rights weren’t violated when he was fired in the aftermath of Facebook posts he made, the Sixth Circuit ruled Aug. 27.

Gerald Sensabaugh failed to show two disciplinary letters he received from the Washington County Board of Education amounted to adverse employment actions, Judge Joan L. Larsen said. And he failed to link the posts to his termination “almost six months later,” she said.

Sensabaugh’s first post about conditions at a local elementary school included a photograph showing some students’ faces, the court said. His second post came two days later, after ...