Dubuque school board approves employee expression policy

At Monday’s Dubuque School Board meeting, school board members unanimously approved a new district policy regulating employee expression, which is required by state law. The policy uses state-recommended language and dictates that while the First Amendment protects employees’ speech when they speak as individual citizens, any employee expression, including activity on social media, that “has an adverse impact on district operations” can be subject to discipline, “up to and including termination.”