A former Union High School teacher who in 2011 called homosexuality a "perverted spirit" that "breeds like cancer" has agreed to a three-year suspension of her teaching certificates.

The posts on Jenye "Viki" Knox's personal Facebook page eventually caused the special education teacher and faculty adviser to the school's Bible study group to resign. She later filed a federal lawsuit claiming school officials had violated her free speech and religious rights.

Jenye "Viki" Knox in 2011 (Courtesy of CBS)

Knox appealed the state Department of Education's decision to revoke her three certificates to the Office of Administrative Law, but then presented to the education department a proposal in which she would agree to a three-year suspension, according to the order of suspension.

The education department's State Board of Examiners accepted the proposal Dec. 8, immediately suspending the elementary school, nursery school and handicapped teaching certificates Knox has held since February 1990.

Knox, 56, did not return calls to her home seeking comment.

A lawsuit she filed in 2013 claiming officials in the Union County district violated her free speech and religious rights was settled in September, but her attorney said the settlement includes a confidentiality agreement.

Knox had been seeking reinstatement to her teaching job, back pay, damages and judgment that she was within her constitutional rights when she made the Facebook posts.

Her attorney, Demetrios Stratis, said he believed Knox maintained her First Amendment protections as a private citizen while she was not at the school and had a right to express her opinions on social media.

"These Facebook posts that she made were done on her time, at her home, after school hours, on her home computer, and it was addressing a matter that could arguably be of big societal concerns," Stratis said.

The Union High School superintendent, the school board president and the school board vice president did not return a request for comment on the lawsuit's settlement or the suspension of Knox's teaching certificate.

A firestorm began in the fall of 2011, when Knox took to Facebook to criticize a display at the high school marking Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender History Month.

"It's still there," the Facebook posting said. "I'm pitching a fit."

In a back-and-forth with commenters on the post, Knox railed against homosexuality, The Star-Ledger previously reported.

"Why parade your unnatural immoral behaviors before the rest of us?" wrote Knox, a teacher for more than 20 years. "I DO NOT HAVE TO TOLERATE ANYTHING OTHERS WISH TO DO. I DO HAVE TO LOVE AND SPEAK AND DO WHAT'S RIGHT!"

The district put Knox on unpaid administrative leave for three months while they investigated and then filed tenure charges in a bid to fire her.

The school district wrote in the tenure charges that Knox had also emailed school officials to accuse gay and lesbian teachers of "targeting young and impressionable students for indoctrination into alternative sexual lifestyles."

The charges additionally accused Knox of writing that "UHS was going to Hell in a handbasket" on the Facebook page of a teacher who had proposed starting a gay-straight alliance at the school.

Knox denied sending the emails and said her Facebook comments were protected by the First Amendment and not supposed to be hateful.

She resigned from her $72,270-position in June 2012, citing stress, and settled the tenure charges with the district.

Marisa Iati may be reached at miati@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @Marisa_Iati or on Facebook here. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips