Pennsylvania teacher fights suspension over DC protest

One day after the deadly insurrection in Washington, a Pennsylvania school district announced it was suspending a teacher who, the district asserted, “was involved in the electoral college protest that took place at the United States Capitol Building.” Three weeks later, Jason Moorehead is fighting to restore his reputation and resume teaching after he says the Allentown School District falsely accused him of being at the Capitol during the siege. The middle school social studies teacher had attended Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally — at which Trump exhorted supporters to march to the Capitol and “fight like hell” against the election results, which he baselessly claimed were fraudulent — but Moorehead said he was never any closer than a mile and a quarter to the Capitol that day and did nothing wrong. Noting the teacher’s social media activity, the Jan. 25 letter went on: “The reaction fomented by your client’s photographs and postings was formidable making temporary reassignment entirely justifiable.” Freund said in an interview Wednesday that he hopes the probe, which will yield a recommendation about Moorehead’s teaching status, will wrap up soon. Moorehead’s attorney, Francis Malofiy, accused the district of conducting a “witch hunt to try to somehow manufacture a pretextual reason for letting him go.” Malofiy said the district has defamed his client.