NJ Teacher Blamed for Trump Yearbook Censorship Paid $325,000 by District

NJ Teacher Blamed for Trump Yearbook Censorship Paid $325,000 by District
Volunteers pass out Donald Trump T-shirts at a campaign event in Columbia, S.C., on Sept. 23, 2015. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)
3/19/2021
Updated:
3/19/2021

A school district from New Jersey has paid $325,000 to a local teacher who said she was ordered to digitally erase a pro-Donald Trump logo from a student’s T-Shirt in a yearbook picture.

The settlement was approved on Thursday by the Wall Township school board, according to NJ Advance Media.

The teacher, Susan Parsons, retired from the school district after she said she was scapegoated and threatened over the problem, which sparked national attention in 2017.

The outlet reported that the payment will be made by the insurance carrier of the district. She sued the school system in 2019.

The district didn’t acknowledge liability or wrongdoing.

Parsons said that in 2017, a secretary who acted on behalf of the principal instructed her to remove the “Trump Make America Great Again” logo from the student’s shirt and make it appear as if he was wearing a plain navy colored T-shirt.

Parsons will receive about $204,000 and the remainder of the settlement will cover attorney fees, according to the agreement.

Another yearbook with the unaltered photo of the student wearing the Trump T-shirt was reissued.

Big Tech’s Trump Censorship Stokes Global Security Fears

The swift and widespread deplatforming of Trump while he was still president has broader, global consequences, forcing other countries to assess their communication channels for potential risks to national security, experts say.
World leaders including Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Acting Australian Prime Minister Michael McCormack have condemned recent moves by some of the world’s largest tech companies, arguing the companies violated free speech protocols and have too much power. Others, such as Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, have accused their censorship of Trump as being motivated by partisan politics.

Experts told The Epoch Times this censorship by Big Tech could cause countries to consider developing their own platforms rather than depend on a handful of private U.S. companies that have the ability to cut off communication to millions. Ethical concerns have also been raised, as well as what to do about Section 230, an outdated law protecting platforms from litigation for content their users post, which critics and lawmakers say needs to be repealed or reformed.

Bowen Xiao and The Associated Press contributed to this report.