Former teacher wins lawsuit against Pennsylvania school district that fired him for being in Washington on Jan. 6
Jason Moorehead wasn't even near the Capitol when the violent riots and assault on the complex broke out. However, the Allentown School District's School Board took action.
Demonstrations in front of the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
A Pennsylvania teacher who was fired for simply being in Washington, D.C. during the January 6 events at the Capitol has won a court battle against the school district that fired him.
At issue is Jaron Moorehead, who for 17 years and until early 2021 was a teacher for the Allentown School District in Pennsylvania. Allentown's is one of the largest school districts in the state and serves 16,000 students.
Moorehead attended Donald Trump's rally in Washington D.C. that Jan. 6, but did not participate in the violent protests that culminated in the assault on the U.S. Capitol. A court has now awarded him $131,500 in damages for the wrongful termination that the left-leaning school district executed upon learning that Moorehead was in Washington on the day of the riots.
The problems began when Moorehead's participation in the Trump rally came to the attention of several members of Allentown School District's School Board. As a result, the district issued a statement implicating Moorehead in the riots and distancing itself from the disturbing event.
Following this statement, Jason Moorehead was suspended from employment. In 2022 he took the school district to court. Jurors ruled that the district should pay Moorehead $125,000 in economic damages. The jury also found that Lisa Conover, a school board member, and Nancy Wilt, a former board president, acted "maliciously or willfully," and ordered Conover to pay $6,000 in punitive damages and Wilt to pay another $500.
School district refuses to apologize
The Allentown School District was open to having Moorehead return to teach at its schools, but on one controversial condition. The board intends to put Moorehead through a series of workshops to supposedly raise his awareness of woke ideology and treatment of ethnic minorities.
Jason Moorhead has not returned to the classroom in Allentown or elsewhere, claiming that it would be very difficult unless the district issued an apology. A lawyer for the school district stated that "at this time the district does not intend to make any further statements on this matter."
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