Barrington Public Schools Acting Superintendent Christopher Ashley said on Sept. 11 a teacher had been placed on paid administrative leave after making a social media post.
School officials have not provided specific details about what happened and have not identified the teacher.
On Monday, the School Committee voted to appoint an attorney to lead the investigation, at Ashley’s recommendation. Once the probe is complete, Ashley will work “closely with our legal counsel on any action taken,” he said.
Still, the Barrington Republican Town Committee shared the nearly minute-long video now under review in a Facebook post last week, and identified the man on camera, giving his name and occupation, despite no public confirmation from the school. The clip has circulated widely online.
In the video, the teacher says of Kirk, “This is a man who hated the LGBTQ community, who hated women’s rights, who hated democracy, who thought that he was a big man because he went to college campuses and debated young college students and thought he proved how tough he was with his words that he studied ahead of time. What a piece of garbage.”
After shrugging, the teacher adds, “This is what happens. I’m curious if we’re going to want to take guns away now from … who will inevitably be the white man who shot and killed him. Bye, Charlie.”
In its statement, the ACLU said speech “directly intended to provoke violence is not protected by the First Amendment.”
But “the ability to speak freely in one’s private capacity about public issues — including the right to criticize, challenge, and denounce opposing political views, however crudely — must be safeguarded, especially when that speech is considered unpopular or provocative,” the organization said.
“Otherwise, everybody’s free speech is at risk, dependent on the political tides,” the statement said.
The ACLU also said the “controversy in Barrington is not an isolated incident.”
“It reflects a disturbing national trend of speech suppression and an increasing use of government power to silence opposing beliefs and voices,” the organization said.
So far, at least eight teachers and school staff members throughout Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island have been placed on leave for negative or celebratory comments on social media about Kirk, 31, who was gunned down while speaking at an event on a college campus in Utah on Sept. 10.
Others have also faced consequences from employers after airing their comments in public and online. The Trump administration has also intensified its push against speech of political opponents and critics.
Late-night television show host Jimmy Kimmel was indefinitely suspended by the ABC television network after he criticized the MAGA movement’s reaction to Kirk’s alleged killer, Tyler Robinson, and after Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr threatened to revoke the network’s affiliate licenses.
“The ACLU has a long history of defending free speech — not just when it’s easy or agreeable, but also when it’s difficult and divisive,” the ACLU’s statement said. “Core political speech must be defended most fiercely when it is controversial, because that is precisely when it is most at risk.”
Kirk, a Christian, had said he opposed the notion of separation between church and state, and frequently used his platform to demonize opponents, including Democrats, people of color, feminists, immigrants, the LGBTQ community, Muslims, and other minority groups.
In Barrington, the teacher under review is listed on the high school’s website as a social studies teacher, and, as of last week, was listed as co-president of the National Education Association’s Barrington chapter.
Nahum Mitnik, a co-president of the union, told the School Committee earlier this week the teacher has stepped aside from his leadership post while he is on leave.
“We are deeply disappointed by his actions,” Mitnik said at a meeting on Monday. “Let me be clear: we unequivocally condemn violence in all its forms.”
Ashley said in a statement on Monday bringing in an outside attorney to review the incident was important because the district’s legal counsel has worked closely with the teacher “through union negotiations” in the past.
“This step will allow the facts to be gathered objectively, consistent with district policy and law, and will help ensure that the outcome is credible as our district moves forward,” Ashley said.
Material from previous Globe stories was used in this report.