SC teacher sues Spartanburg County sheriff over Facebook post, alleging libel. What we know
A South Carolina teacher has filed a lawsuit against the Spartanburg County Sheriff, alleging an accusation that she did not report a child told her she was raped was false and the office put the information on Facebook nonetheless.
Joy Allen, who has been a teacher in South Carolina since 1995, was a teacher at Clifdale Middle when the allegation against her was made.
There is no record in Spartanburg County court records that show she was ever charged with failing to report.
Allen’s lawsuit called the Sheriff’s Department negligent, careless and reckless in posting the allegations that damaged her personal and professional relationship.
She “has incurred expenses to defend herself against the false allegations and has endured embarrassment and humiliation, emotional distress, mental anguish, irreparable damage to her reputation.”
The lawsuit stems from the Sheriff’s Office reporting that a student who attended Clifdale Middle from August 2021 to February 2024 said she told Allen she had been sexually assaulted by another student.
On Feb. 7, 2024 the student told the school resource office at Daniel Morgan Applied Technology Center, who alerted authorities.
The student said she had made the accusation twice to Allen and that Allen said the alleged assault was too old, the sheriff’s office reported.
When deputies interviewed Allen, they said she acknowledged not reporting the allegation and that she believed she had not violated any laws, the sheriff’s office said.
Allen, of Chesnee, was licensed as both a teacher and special education teacher by the South Carolina Department of Education in 1995 and as a guidance counselor in 2017.
