PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — State Representative Berny Jacques is demanding the firing of two Pinellas County teachers.
“It’s unacceptable. We have to do better. They must be removed,” he told Tampa Bay 28 reporter Erik Waxler.
Jacques sent two letters to Pinellas County Superintendent Kevin Hendrick, asking the school district to investigate the teachers he alleges made social media posts mocking the death of Charlie Kirk.
Jacques said constituents alerted him about the posts, and he sent us the screenshots.
One in question came from a high school teacher putting the blame for Kirk’s death on President Trump, saying, “You get what you preach.” And “When you speak or talk of your future. Sometimes you get what you wanted.”
Other posts that Jacques says are from an elementary school teacher, called Kirk, a misogynist whose rhetoric has killed thousands of women. The post also said, “Good riddance!”
“When somebody is openly celebrating and justifying murder that would violate just about any code of conduct that there is out there,” Jacques said.
We are not naming the teachers because we could not independently confirm that the posts came from them.
Kirk’s killing last week led Florida’s Commissioner of Education, Anastasios Kamoutsas, to say teachers could lose their jobs over social media posts celebrating the shooting.
He said school employees are held to a higher standard as public servants and their First Amendment rights “do not extend without limit to their professional duties.”
Waxler did try and call the two teachers accused of the comments, but could not reach them. But he did talk with Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association President Lee Bryant.
He said the union represents one of the teachers involved, and they have a lawyer consulting with that teacher.
“Our job is to ensure that due process is followed, and the letter from Representative Jacques jumped the gun on due process in my opinion. We should be not be putting a thumb on the scale until all the facts are known,” said Bryant.
After we reached out to the Pinellas School District, a spokesperson issued a statement saying they are aware of the comments made by staff members.
In the statement, Pinellas County Schools said the following:
We are aware of comments made by staff members regarding a recent national incident. These matters are being handled according to School Board policies and procedures. As always, we do not discuss personnel issues. Pinellas County Schools remains focused and committed to learning. We expect civility, kindness, and respectful dialogue within our school communities.
“Parents don’t want the morals that they are instilling in their children to be reversed by a teacher who would tell them or insinuate that murder is somehow ok,” said Jacques.
The teachers' union president says he’s worried that any discipline over all of this will set a dangerous precedent.
“There is way too much 'othering' going on in this society where people are pitted against each other. And I don’t like that. The culture wars should not take places in the schools, in the classroom,” said Bryant.
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