A 12-year security guard for a New Jersey school district will be unemployed as of Friday after posting to Facebook that she was praying for a Philadelphia police officer who was killed by a "black thug" during a GameStop robbery.

Mary Czaplinski wants a federal judge to reverse the Vineland School District's decision to fire her over her March 5 post, which said:

"Praying hard for the Philly cop shot today by another black thug ... may [be] all white people should start riots and protests and scare the hell out of them."

A hearing was set for Thursday in New Jersey federal court. Her lawsuit, (PDF) which invokes the First Amendment and other defenses, said the post was written "at night, on her own time, as an expression of her opinion as an individual and citizen. The post did not mention her position with the school district. The post was meant as her comment on a significant public issue, and expressed her frustration at the racial polarization that has characterized the current national debate over police conduct."

The district initially placed the woman, whose Facebook profile said she was a district employee, on leave after receiving an anonymous tip about the post. She was eventually fired for "conduct unbecoming a public employee," according to her lawsuit.

The Facebook post that got her into trouble was in reference to the March 5 shooting death of Officer Robert Wilson III, an eight-year veteran and father of two young children who was shot in the head by a black robbery suspect.

In a signed declaration, (PDF) Czaplinski said her Facebook page is private and that "only those persons whom I allow may access it."

The day after the shooting, she posted even more material on her page in connection to Wilson's death, according to her declaration.

"I made a comment last night about the black thugs that killed a philly cop ... there are thugs of every race ... im just tired of race cards being played all over the place ... whether black, white, mexican, spanish, puerto rican, Cuban, polish, Italian, irish ... we are people .... Maybe if we all just accepted the fact things could change."

A 2010 district court policy titled "Inappropriate Staff Conduct" cautions employees about their social media use. The policy statement was included in the court record:

The Commissioner of Education has determined inappropriate conduct by a school staff member outside their professional responsibilities may be considered conduct unbecoming a staff member. Therefore, school staff members are advised to be concerned with such conduct which may include, but are not limited to, communications and/or publications using e-mails, text-messaging, social networking sites, or any other medium that is directed and/or available to pupils or for public display.

The district did not immediately respond for comment.