$325K Settlement For NJ Teacher Criticized In Trump Yearbook Edit

WALL, NJ - A former Wall teacher who claims she was forced to edit a pro-Trump “Make America Great Again” T-shirt out of the school yearbook is set to receive a $325,000 settlement from the district.

Susan Parsons, then-school yearbook adviser, sued the Wall Township school district in 2019, alleging she was used as a scapegoat and received death threats over the June 2017 controversy. According to court documents, Parsons alleges that a secretary for the principal demanded that then-junior Grant Berardo’s “Make America Great Again” shirt be digitally edited. Although the adviser did vote for then-President Donald Trump in 2016, she did as she was told and removed the slogan from the T-shirt.

Parsons was suspended without pay following the incident, Patch previously reported. She has since retired from teaching.

The Wall Board of Education approved the settlement Tuesday evening, with the district reportedly making no admission of wrongdoing or liability, according to NJ.com. A payment will be paid by the school district’s insurance carrier.

The publication reported that Parsons previously received a $25,000 settlement from a lawsuit challenging a district media policy that forbade her from telling her side of the story without obtaining permission from the district. Parsons is now set to receive around $204,000 from the district, with the remainder of the settlement allocated to cover attorney fees.

An investigation into the “censorship” discovered that Berardo’s photo was not the only altered image. As Patch previously reported, a Trump quote under a photo of then-freshman class president Montana Dobrovich-Fago was also removed. Brother Wyatt Dobrovich-Fago similarly claimed his sweater bearing a Trump logo was censored.

The Dobrovich-Fagos were later thanked by Trump in a social media post.

Wall High School later reissued the yearbook with the original unedited photo. Joseph Berardo, Grant's father, paid for more than half of the estimated $10,000 cost, donating over $5,200 toward the reprint effort.

With reporting by Karen Wall.