A Washington state middle school teacher is suing the Evergreen School District, his former principal and human resources director, for targeting him with harassment over his Make America Great Again hat.

Former Wy’east Middle School teacher Eric Dodge is suing the district, principal Caroline Garrett and human resources manager Janae Gomes for “emotional devastation” that resulted from being “verbally attacked and defamed by his new principal for the political opinions he held as a private citizen – specifically, statement in support of President Trump,” according to the federal lawsuit.

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Dodge worked in the district for 17 years before taking medical leave for a stroke in 2017. When he returned, he was reassigned as a science teacher at Wy’east Middle School. The complaint stems from two training sessions ahead of the school year last August, when Dodge brought his newly purchased Make America Great Again hat, The Columbian reports.

The lawsuit contends Dodge bought the hat as a “conversation-starter, with the idea of explaining that ordinary and normal people support Trump, despite some of Trump’s flaws. The teacher alleges he wore the hat into the school building, then removed it, and did not “wear or purposefully display” the hat at any of the training sessions.

The Columbian reports:

According to an investigation by Clear Risk Solutions, which the district contracts with for risk management services, several teachers expressed concerns to the training’s instructor, as well as to administrators, about Dodge bringing the hat to school. One teacher, Amy Matsumoto, told investigators she was “shocked” to see Dodge with the hat in a cultural diversity training. She pointed out the school’s large population of Latino and Hispanic students who may feel uncomfortable if Dodge chose to wear the hat in class.

Garrett approached Dodge about the MAGA hat and allegedly expressed no concern about the teacher’s politics, but rather “the impact he was having on the learning environment of his colleagues. Garrett reportedly asked Dodge to use “good judgement” on when to wear the hat, but did not expressly forbid him from wearing it.

On the second day of training, Dodge left his MAGA hat in his car at Wy’east Middle School, but wore it from his car to the door at Evergreen High School for an off-site training session. When Dodge returned to Wy’east, the lawsuit alleges “Garrett approached and cornered plaintiff with an aggressive and hostile tone. She began the conversation by exclaiming: ‘OK, what is the f—king deal with you and your hat!” according to Clark County Today.

“For the next 15 minutes, Garrett – acting under color of state law, and acting as plaintiff’s new boss – repeatedly and aggressively berated plaintiff. Among other things, she declared that plaintiff was a ‘racist,’ ‘bigot,’ ‘homophobe,’ ‘liar,’ and ‘hateful person,’” the lawsuit alleges.

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Dodge “felt threatened, insulted and bullied, simply because he owned a hat of which Garrett disapproved.”

Dodge’s attorney, Michael Estok, issued a press release that states “this attack was particularly devastating because Mr. Dodge had just returned to working after an absence to rehabilitate from a stroke. The hostile environment created by the principal caused his previously resolved stroke symptoms to immediately return.

“These symptoms – including a verbal stutter and a loss in coordination – have now made Mr. Dodge unable to teach or continue his livelihood. Even worse, when Mr. Dodge filed an internal complaint, the principal – who has a well-established practice of pushing her own political ideology at the school and creating a double standard with her staff based on their political beliefs – worked in concert with the district’s HR director to minimize and distort what had happened, in an effort to protect the principal’s position and to further harm Mr. Dodge,” Estok wrote.

“She attacked me and wanted to ruin my reputation at this new school,” Dodge said, referring to Garrett, “even though she had just met me and didn’t know the first thing about me.”

District officials commissioned an investigation into the incident in September, with Clear Risk Solutions determining neither Dodge nor Garrett violated district policies. Regardless, school officials placed dodge on administrative leave and later on an unpaid leave of absence, forcing him to burn through all of his sick and vacation days during the current school year, Clark County Today reports.

“At its Dec. 10 meeting, the school board met in executive session to discuss the performance of a public employee, an allowed exemption from the Open Public Meetings Act. Ten days later, Garrett, who was hired by the district in 2010, resigned effective April 2, but left her job immediately and took all her accrued vacation and sick leave leading up to the April resignation date, according to district records” cited by The Columbian.

“Garrett also received severance equal to her salary from April 2 through June 30. According to the district’s salary schedule for principals, Garrett’s base annual salary was $150,170.”

Dodge is now seeking lost wages and emotional damage for what Estok describes as “textbook violations” of harassment, intimidation and bullying by Garrett.

“People who are public employees enjoy certain First Amendment rights,” Estok told The Columbian. “They shouldn’t be targeted or treated differently because they have certain political viewpoints. That’s what’s going on here.”