I was totally on the teacher's side at first. After looking up the school's actual social media policy for staff, it changed my view. The rules for public conduct are way more specific than I realized, and they broke them. It's a tough situation, but the district is just following their own written code.
Exactly, and those policies get updated all the time without most people noticing. It's so easy to think the rules are just common sense until you actually read the fine print they agreed to. I feel for the teacher, but signing that contract means you're on the hook for whatever is in those pages, even if it seems unfair later. This is why I tell my friends in teaching to re-read their handbook every single year.