A New Jersey school district caught in a debacle over the removal of Trump shirts from a 2017 yearbook has reached a $325,000 settlement with a former teacher.
Susan Parsons, who said she was scapegoated by Wall Township School District when student Grant Berardo’s missing “TRUMP: Make America Great Again” shirt made national headlines, will ultimately pocket just over $200,000 after attorneys fees for her 2019 lawsuit are taken into account.
The two sides will close the books on the legal proceedings with Wall Township School District making no admission of wrongdoing or liability, NJ Advance Media reported Wednesday.
Ms. Parson’s claimed that a principal’s secretary told her “that has to go” regarding two pro-Trump messages adorned by students.
She followed orders and was suspended with pay when Wall Township High School was put under a national media microscope.
“My life has not been the same,” Ms. Parsons told the website in 2019. “I don’t think it ever will. Even though this information is coming out, not everyone is ever going to be told the truth. Most people don’t care. They’ll just remember ’That woman, that nutcase, who did she think she was?’”
The former education said she voted for the Republican in 2016, yet found herself deluged with hate mail and death threats after her name was disseminated across the nation.
Payments to Ms. Parsons will be made by the district’s insurance carrier, the website reported.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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