Superintendent's request for auditors to 'follow the money' leads to $400K verdict

High-stakes audits. Threats of violence. $400,000 paydays. While each of those events could be ripped from the plot of a Hollywood blockbuster, they're actually events streaming from a school district in Harvey, Illinois. Read on to learn why one administrator's comments were found to be protected speech under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and then decide who should play her in the movie to follow.

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Denean Adams became the superintendent of Harvey public schools in July 2013. In the spring of 2015, she asked the board of education to approve a forensic audit of the school district's expenditures. The board allowed her to obtain requests for proposals (RFPs) from auditing firms, and she submitted them to the board. One of the board's members, Tyrone Rogers, called her after she submitted the RFPs and told her she was "itching for an ass-kicking."

Someone called the police, and Adams met with a detective at her school office to discuss Rogers' threat. She eventually filed a formal police complaint. On July 10, Janet Rogers, Tyrone's wife, who also was on the board, visited Adams at her office. Janet told Adams she had concerns about her performance. Thereafter, Adams' relationship with the board deteriorated. By December, the board had notified her that her contract wasn't being renewed.

Adams sued the board and its members in federal court, claiming they violated the First Amendment. A jury entered a $400,000 judgment in her favor, and the board appealed to the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals (whose decisions apply to Illinois, Indiana, and employers).