Gwinnett Pushes Back At Teacher's Lawsuit Over Bad Evaluations

GWINNETT COUNTY, GA — A former Gwinnett teacher who says his work evaluations suffered because he was arrested at a protest against migrant-detention centers is suing the district to have those evaluations retracted.

Attorneys with the Georgia Association of Educators announced Tuesday they had filed a lawsuit in federal court on behalf of GAE member Jeff Corkill, a longtime history teacher at Brookwood High School in Snellville who left the district in 2020. The emailed news release said that the Gwinnett school system is being sued “for violation of Mr. Corkill’s rights of free speech and association.”

In response, a spokesperson for Gwinnett County Public Schools told Patch via email Wednesday that "a full review of the pertinent facts will reveal the lack of substance to support his claims."

The lawsuit stems from a “Never Again” protest on July 15, 2019, at Atlanta’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office. Corkill — who was on summer break at the time — was one of about 200 protestors there, according to The Saporta Report. He was arrested less than an hour into the protest after he handcuffed himself to a pedestrian gate outside the ICE office.

Multiple media reports made no mention of violence at the event, and Corkill’s lawsuit describes it as a “peaceful protest.” Corkill and other demonstrators were charged with disorderly conduct, according to the lawsuit, but the charge against Corkill eventually was dropped.

When Corkill returned to Brookwood in August, the lawsuit said, he discovered that a photo of him protesting had been published by the Atlanta Independent newspaper. Another article on the Atlanta Progressive News website identified Corkill as a “high school history teacher and a member of Metro Atlanta Democratic Socialists of America.”

A Parent Reports The Picture

Less than a month into the school year, according to the lawsuit, Brookwood Principal Bo Ford called Corkill out of class to tell him that a parent had seen the picture and told him about it. Ford then instructed Corkill to report his arrest to human resources, despite the fact that Gwinnett County school policy requires only convictions be reported.

From there, according to the lawsuit, Corkill’s relationship with Ford deteriorated. So did his evaluations, in which Ford referred specifically in written notes to Corkill’s arrest as “contrary to our school community standards” and “expectations of professionalism.”

At the end of the school year, Corkill had his advanced-placement teaching duties revoked without explanation, the lawsuit said. Because of what he described as an intolerable work environment, Corkill then left Gwinnett and his seniority behind for a teaching job in DeKalb County for the 2020-2021 school year.

“The First Amendment does not exclude teachers nor does it allow the evaluation process to be used to chill educators' civil rights,” said GAE general counsel Mike McGonigle in Tuesday’s statement. “All public school employees have the right to protest and speak out on matters of public concern without fear from this kind of retaliation.”

Asked for comment from the district, on Wednesday a spokesperson for Gwinnett County Public Schools issued the following statement: "The District and individual parties look forward to responding specifically through the court’s process to the allegations in the former employee’s complaint. A full review of the pertinent facts will reveal the lack of substance to support his claims."

This story includes a response from Gwinnett County Public Schools that was unavailable when the article was first published Tuesday.

Read accounts of the 2019 protest on The Saporta Report and Atlanta Progressive News.

Read Corkill's lawsuit against Gwinnett County Public Schools.