Committee debates wording and authority language in employee freedom‑of‑speech policy

Upper Dublin School District's policy committee examined proposed language for Policy 3.20, retitled “Freedom of Speech by employees,” debating the appropriate scope, authority citation and concise wording.

Some members suggested including the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment in the policy's authority section. "If talking about freedom of speech, the authority isn't really us… It's the First Amendment," one committee member said, asking whether the document should cite that source.

Committee members were split on a long explanatory sentence that asserts school employees do not surrender free‑speech rights by virtue of employment. One member called the sentence "more than we need to say," while another said including explicit confirmation of employees' rights was valuable. The committee also flagged a drafting issue at section 3.4.09, which lacks a verb; a suggested fix was to state, "refrain from disclosing information contained in student records." "We just need the verb," a member said.

Staff and committee members agreed the draft is largely noncontroversial and that language could be tightened for clarity; no final adoption occurred during the meeting. The committee approved moving the policy forward for refinement and advised staff to adjust the authority statement and the phrasing in 3.4.09 before the next policy review.

The policy committee also noted that some statements in the draft were PSBA model language; members said they would be comfortable keeping the substance while shortening defensive or repetitive wording.