(Michael Carroll, The Center Square) A former Lee County English arts teacher who was suspended after posting about the death of political activist Charlie Kirk on a private Facebook account should be reinstated with back pay, an administrative judge has concluded.
Judge Andrew Manko of the state’s Division of Administrative Hearings said the Lee County school board failed to prove that Three Oaks Middle School (TOMS) teacher Mariah Roller’s post to a select group of friends had caused any substantial upheaval at the school.
“… The school board failed to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the dissemination of Ms. Roller’s post (by a third party) caused a substantial disruption at TOMS or that Ms. Roller’s effectiveness as an educator had been sufficiently undermined to warrant just cause for her termination,” Manko said in his Aug. 14 decision.
In the wake of Kirk’s death in September of last year, Roller posted to her private Facebook account a single comment: “What’s that about the cost of the Second Amendment being ‘some gun deaths every year?’ Bye Charlie.”
School officials alleged they were “bombarded” with critical emails in the wake of the post and that Roller had engaged in misconduct under the Florida Administrative Code and school board policies. But Manko said the middle school’s principal received at most 20 emails about the post and that he didn’t respond to most of them. In addition, no parents, students or colleagues complained to him about the incident.
“The weight of the credible evidence does not support a finding that the receipt of 15 to 20 emails by a principal – the school’s lead administrator – is either substantial or disruptive, particularly given that he only took the time to send a generic response to a few of them,” the judge said.
A spokesman for the school district said it would not be appropriate for the district to comment on pending litigation. Roller’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment, but the Florida Education Association (FEA) welcomed the judge’s decision and said it was a win for teachers’ right to due process and freedom of speech.
“Our educators deserve a voice in their workplace, and this ruling makes it clear that the district must respect the professional dignity and constitutional rights of educators,” Kevin Daly, president of the Teachers Association of Lee County (TALC), said in a statement. “Despite attempts to silence educators … we know that when our voices are heard, we’re able to create stronger, safer learning environments for our students.”
Roller had expressed a willingness to continue teaching at TOMS, but in the aftermath of the suspension, she returned to Iowa and established residency there, Manko said in his decision.
The judge concluded that it was not clear if most of the people who sent emails to the principal or otherwise complained were local parents or people with any stake in the middle school’s operations. The school seemed to be operating normally in the days after the post was disseminated by a third party who took a screen shot of it, and no uptick in teacher or student absences was detected, he said.
A media truck did visit the campus once or twice to report on the controversy, but it stayed only a few minutes and remained outside of the school grounds, according to Manko.
The school district also failed to prove that Roller violated School Board Policy 7544, which relates to the staff’s use of social media in school-sponsored events or posting while on school property – and not to personal, after-hours posts, according to the judge.
