Teachers Answering to Employers after Charlie Kirk Social Media Posts

By Jay Waagmeester, Florida Phoenix

State government is investigating teachers over social media comments made following Charlie Kirk’s assassination. Faculty and classroom teacher union leaders are calling it an attack on freedom of speech.

Last week, Florida Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas wrote a letter to school superintendents statewide, reminding them that he has the power to discipline educators and sanction their certificates for probable cause, including “personal conduct that seriously reduces that person’s effectiveness as an employee of the district school board.”

The Florida Department of Education vowed last week to “hold teachers who choose to make disgusting comments about the horrific assassination of Charlie Kirk accountable. Govern yourselves accordingly.”

Reports have surfaced from around the state of teachers under investigation for making what Kamoutsas called “despicable comments” about Kirk.

“These few are not a reflection of the great, high-quality teachers who make up the vast majority of Florida’s educators. Nevertheless, I will be conducting an investigation of every educator who engages in this vile, sanctionable behavior,” Kamoutsas said in the letter.

The statute permits the Education Practices Commission to suspend a teacher’s license if they are sanctioned or found guilty of personal conduct as described above by Kamoutsas. The law also permits the commissioner to suspend employees from positions interacting with students upon allegation of misconduct that affects the health, safety, or welfare of a student.

A Martin County teacher, who is also a Martin County Education Association official, has been removed from the classroom and placed in a job in the district office pending investigation for posting online about Kirk, calling him a “racist, misogynistic, fear-mongering neo-Nazi,” WPTV News reported Saturday.

Osceola County is investigating four teachers over social media comments, the Orlando Sentinel reported Monday. According to the Sentinel, a teacher in Kissimmee posted, “protect ur rights brother!!!! so proud of you taking this one for the team,” accompanying a Kirk quote declaring that “some” gun deaths were worth it to maintain gun rights.

News4Jax reported that a Clay County school employee was suspended after posting, “This may not be the obituary. [sic] We were all hoping to wake up to, but this is a close second for me.”

Some Lee County teachers will be subject to Kamoutsas’ discipline, Gulf Coast News reported Friday. Teachers at more than one school in that county posted social media comments that grabbed public attention. The school district emphasized their right to due process and is asking for Kamoutsas’ direction, the TV station reported.

“I certainly think there was a completely different way he could have sent that message without it sounding like he was trying to attack and threaten teachers in our public schools,” Florida Education Association President Andrew Spar told the Phoenix of Kamoutsas. 

Kamoutsas, in the letter, acknowledged First Amendment rights for teachers but said, “these rights do not extend without limit into their professional duties.”

“An educator’s personal views that are made public may undermine the trust of the students and families that they serve,” Kamoutsas wrote. 

Florida House Rep. Berny Jacques (R-Seminole) posted to social media a letter he’s sent to Pinellas County Superintendent Kevin Hendrick, calling on him to fire teachers who have conducted “abhorrent” behavior on their social media accounts since Kirk’s death. He cited one instructor who he said posted “good riddance” after Kirk was shot.

The Florida Department of Education on Monday told the Phoenix, which was attempting to gauge the scope of the crackdown, that it “can neither confirm nor deny the existence of a pending investigation.” Press Secretary Nathalia Medina added that Kamoutsas “intends to conduct an investigation of every educator who engages in misconduct and posts vile inappropriate messages about this current situation.”

“For the commissioner to say there’s no longer a second-chance mentality in education and that he’s going to personally investigate and essentially be the investigator, the prosecutor, and the judge and jury in all of these cases is quite concerning,” Spar said. 

The commissioner’s letter sends a “chilling effect throughout the profession,” Spar said.

“We cannot have a McCarthy-style commissioner or Department of Education. We need to deal with issues if they come up, yes, but we also need to support all who work in our schools and be reasonable in how we approach this,” Spar said. 

Spar’s reference was to the period in the 1950s when U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy investigated, widely in the public eye, often inflated allegations of communist infiltration.