{"id":58146,"date":"2025-09-12T22:05:03","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T02:05:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=58146"},"modified":"2025-09-13T00:36:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T04:36:10","slug":"state-polk-school-district-warn-teachers-about-social-media-posts-after-charlie-kirks-murder-but-the-witch-hunt-has-started-one-polk-teacher-fired","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2025\/09\/12\/state-polk-school-district-warn-teachers-about-social-media-posts-after-charlie-kirks-murder-but-the-witch-hunt-has-started-one-polk-teacher-fired\/","title":{"rendered":"State, Polk school district warn teachers about social media posts after Charlie Kirk’s murder but the ‘witch hunt’\u00a0 has started \u2013 one Polk teacher FIRED!!!!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Following the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, Florida\u2019s Department of Education has warned public school teachers against making potentially offensive social media posts about his death.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Florida Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas sent an email Sept. 11 to superintendents of all school districts. Kamoutsas reported being told of \u201cdespicable comments\u201d about Kirk\u2019s assassination posted by Florida educators on social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The commissioner wrote that such comments did not reflect the \u201cvast majority\u201d of educators.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cNevertheless, I will be conducting an investigation of every educator who engages in this vile, sanctionable behavior,\u201d Kamoutsas wrote. \u201cThis memorandum serves to remind superintendents and their employees that they are held to a higher standard as public servants.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Polk County Public Schools, like other districts throughout the state, shared Kamoutsas\u2019 memo with its staff. Polk Schools Superintendent Fred Heid also addressed the subject in his email to employees.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cIn moments like these, it\u2019s easy for a personal post to be misunderstood or to appear unprofessional \u2014 even when that wasn\u2019t the intent,\u201d Heid wrote. \u201cPlease be mindful that your words, likes, shares, and comments on social media can be perceived in ways you never anticipated.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Kamoutsas and Heid acknowledged that school district employees have rights to free speech under the First Amendment, but said those rights have limits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAn educator\u2019s personal views that are made public may undermine the trust of the students and families that they serve,\u201d Kamoutsas wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the memo, the commissioner did not give any examples of \u201cdespicable comments\u201d made by educators and did not define what speech might trigger a state investigation. It is not clear whether criticizing Kirk\u2019s political views or quoting his 2023 statement that some gun-related deaths are inevitable in a country with Second Amendment rights would qualify as violations of state rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Citing rules in the Florida Administrative Code covering behavior by public school employees, Kamoutsas wrote that violations could lead the Department of Education to \u201csanction an educator\u2019s certificate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his email, Heid wrote that some Florida educators had posted \u201cinflammatory remarks\u201d about Kirk\u2019s killing on Sept. 10 in Utah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPosts that create an unwelcoming environment for students or families \u2014 or that diminish your effectiveness as an employee \u2014 may trigger an investigation and\/or disciplinary action,\u201d Heid wrote. \u201cPlease exercise caution and professionalism in all communications, especially on social media. Your words carry weight in our community, and our students and families are watching. We want every classroom to remain a place of trust, safety, and academic excellence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Union leader sees ‘witch hunt’<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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PCPS spokesperson Kyle Kennedy said Sept. 12 that he was not aware of any employees in Polk County facing possible investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But one teacher has been fired over this ………..<\/p>\n\n\n

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Stephanie Yocum, president of the Polk Education Association, said that the Department of Education had never before warned district employees about social media posts. She called the threat of investigations \u201ca witch hunt.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is going to be the MO for this commissioner,\u201d Yocum said. \u201cHe’s looking for people to make examples of.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yocum, whose union represents teachers and other district employees, said she had not seen any offensive social media posts from Polk County teachers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yocum sent an email to members in response to Kamoutsas\u2019 memo. She wrote that, like doctors and lawyers, teachers are \u201cheld to a higher standard\u201d regarding public behavior and that no one should promote or celebrate violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut we also have First Amendment rights, and if this commissioner comes after people for exercising their right to free speech while they’re not inciting violence and they have opinions, no matter what side of their opinions they’re on, we will protect their right to free speech,\u201d Yocum said.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Following the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, Florida\u2019s Department of Education has warned public school teachers against making potentially offensive social media posts about his death. Florida Education Commissioner Anastasios… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58147,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"12","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNVwvMDlcL2Rvd25sb2FkLTcud2VicD9maXQ9Mjc1JTJDMTgzJnNzbD0xIiwidHh0IjoiU3RhdGUsIFBvbGsgc2Nob29sIGRpc3RyaWN0IHdhcm4gdGVhY2hlcnMgYWJvdXQgc29jaWFsIG1lZGlhIHBvc3RzIGFmdGVyIENoYXJsaWUgS2lyayYjODIxNztzIG11cmRlciBidXQgdGhlICYjODIxNjt3aXRjaCBodW50JiM4MjE3O1x1MDBhMCBoYXMgc3RhcnRlZCBcdTIwMTMgb25lIFBvbGsgdGVhY2hlciBGSVJFRCEhISEiLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImhpZ2h3YXkiLCJmb250IjoiIiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTYzMDQwNjYxfQ.0SOI0GJzHugfx4MtzzF63z6DCP_ybXJjNClPpxP6enoMQ"},"version":2,"attached_media":[{"id":58147,"url":"http:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/download-7.webp","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[12276,7240],"class_list":["post-58146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news","tag-polk-school-district-warn-teachers-about-social-media-posts-after-charlie-kirks-murder-but-the-witch-hunt-has-started-one-polk-teacher-fired","tag-state"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58146"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58146\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58155,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58146\/revisions\/58155"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}