On January 26, 2026, the Superior Court for the County of San Francisco ordered San Francisco Unified School District to reinstate Eric Gustafson to his former positions as journalism teacher and advisor at Lowell High School. Gustafson held those positions from 2017 until 2025, when the District reassigned him following the publication of certain controversial articles in The Lowell student news publication.
Gustafson challenged his reassignment under Education Code section 48907, which not only provides California students with broad free-press and free-speech rights, but also protects school employees against retaliation for protecting or refusing to infringe upon those rights. The superior court agreed with Gustafson that the District reassigned him in violation of the statute, finding that “[t]he record is clear that [Gustafson] acted to protect students’ control over the content of The Lowell, including by referring administration requests for review of controversial articles to students, and by permitting students the editorial freedom that Section 48907 requires.” The superior court further concluded that “the motivation for [the District’s] reassignment decision was to impact the editorial control of The Lowell in a way that [the District] could not accomplish directly.” The court ordered the District to reinstate Gustafson to his journalism teaching and advisor roles.
Altshuler Berzon LLP represents Gustafson in challenging his reassignment.
The superior court’s order is available here.