Coach’s Complaints About Accounting Procedures Lack Constitutional Protection

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a ruling of a district court that an athletic director and head football coach at Pinkston High School in the Dallas Independent School District was acting within the scope of his duties when he complained to the PHS principal about the school’s accounting procedures.   Thus, his speech was not protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments, effectively gutting his retaliation claim against the school district.   The stage was set