Fired School Bus Driver Loses First Amendment Retaliation Appeal

A former school bus driver who alleged he was wrongfully fired for speaking out about bus inspection reporting lost his appeal Thursday when a divided Second Circuit said his retaliation claim was properly dismissed because he failed to show his speech was protected by the First Amendment.

James Shara worked for the Maine-Endwell School District, near Binghamton, N.Y., from June 2016 until January 2019. After he was elected vice president of the bus drivers’ union, Shara began raising safety concerns, purportedly on behalf of union members.

In speaking with a district mechanic about two buses that had failed inspection, Shara ...