As Americans gather to pay their respects to free speech advocate Charlie Kirk, some Texas teachers find themselves under investigation for comments they made on social media following his assassination.
The Texas Education Agency says it is reviewing more than 280 complaints filed against teachers after posting what people considered to be offensive remarks about Kirk’s murder. TEA Commissioner Mike Morath sent a letter to school districts last week saying, “In response to such posts, I am referring all documentation of educators that have proliferated such vile content to TEA’s Education Investigations Division. Such posts could constitute a violation of the Educators’ Code of Ethics, and each instance will be thoroughly reviewed to determine whether sanctionable conduct has occurred and staff will investigate accordingly.”
In a statement to the media, Morath appears to have tempered his comments. “While all educators are held to a high standard of professionalism, there is a difference between comments made in poor taste and those that call for and incite further violence – the latter of which is clearly unacceptable.”
Morath went on to say he will recommend “to the State Board for Educator Certification that such individuals have their certification suspended and be rendered ineligible to teach in a Texas public school.”
State Senator Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston, said on social media that teachers who cheered on Kirk’s death should be fired. In an interview with CBS News Texas on Tuesday Middleton said, “I’ve got zero tolerance for educators that are cheering on murder of somebody, anybody. It doesn’t matter if it’s Charlie Kirk or anyone else. It is wrong. I’ve seen it across social media. It is in countless districts. It’s actually in some districts within my Senate District. Goose Creek ISD, we have some examples there and look, at the end of the day, anyone who did that needs to be terminated immediately. They need to have their certification rejected, where they’re not allowed to teach again.”
State , D-Houston, criticized Commissioner Morath’s letter to school districts. “I felt it was an inappropriate use of his authority in this matter,” said Simmons. “Anytime a tragedy like this takes place, where there’s going to be just a highly sensitive and polarized response that falls along a political spectrum. I think it would be his job and in his best interest to do his best to turn the temperature down. I’m a former union representative. I used to do this for a living. I represented teachers, and sometimes there would be instances where teachers would make comments on Facebook and they weren’t necessarily violent, they weren’t incendiary, they may be crass or inappropriate, and we would have to make the case and say look this person is using their First Amendment rights that they’re entitled to.”