Image Credit: Canva
The Tennessee Conservative [By Olivia Lupia] –
Two former teachers, one in Rutherford County and another from Williamson County, are suing their respective school districts claiming their terminations over social media posts celebrating the murder of Charlie Kirk are a violation of their free speech rights under the First Amendment.
The first suit was filed by Susannah O’Brien who has taught at several Tennessee schools over the course of 25 years but was fired earlier this month from an elementary school in Rutherford County for sharing two disrespectful Facebook posts about Kirk and his assassination in September.
One of her posts criticized the President’s decree to lower flags in Kirk’s honor, reading “The fact that Trump is putting the flag at half-staff for a white supremacist and never once lowered it for murdered school children tells you everything you need to know.”
The other was shared from the political page Occupy Democrats which said Kirk, “spent his entire life disparaging immigrants, disrespecting women and blaming Black folks only to get shot in one of the whitest places on Earth.”
Withing a week of the posts, she was placed on unpaid leave then terminated days later for what the district called “insubordination and professional misconduct related to violations of the RCS Employee Use of Social Media and Personal Websites policy… You displayed unprofessional posts on your social media platform that are not in alignment with the expectations as an educator of Rutherford County Schools.”
In her 15-page federal suit, which was filed last week in the U.S. District Court in Nashville, O’Brien specifically names James Sullivan, director of Rutherford County Schools, and is demanding reinstatement to her position and monetary compensation for damages for violations of her constitutional rights. Her legal team has also filed a temporary restraining order asking a federal judge to immediately reinstate her until a later preliminary injunction hearing is set.
“Plaintiffs Facebook posts related to Mr. Kirk had nothing to do with her employment and in no way criticized her superiors or their policies,” the lawsuit said.
Mark Downton, attorney for O’Brien, said his client was punished for expressing personal viewpoints on private time, from her own devices, and personal “friends only” account which he claims is, “a clear violation of her free-speech rights for government- which is what the school board is- to punish her for speaking on issues that matter to all of us.”
“It wasn’t part of her job or connected to the schools. It was just a meme; it wasn’t some diatribe,” Downton added. But there appears to be debate between legal experts over whether the case will hinge on if O’Brien’s posts caused disruption at the school and what the district’s social media and website usage policy actually says.
Additionally, there are arguments in favor of the termination claiming that because O’Brien’s posts were visible online, even from a “friends only” page, students could be exposed to them, which does cause disruption and erodes the sense of objectivity students are supposed to be able expect from their educators.
Rutherford County Schools acknowledged receipt of the legal notice but stated they will not comment on pending litigation outside of confirming “legal representatives plan to respond through the judicial process.”
In the second case, Emily Orbison filed suit against Williamson County Schools, specifically naming Superintendent Jason Golden for her firing over an Instagram post which made national headlines in The Federalist. “Guess there wasn’t a good guy with a gun there,” she wrote. “Don’t mourn his death. It’s just the price of doing business.”
Orbison taught in Nashville for a few years before starting at a Williamson County high school last fall as a science teacher. Though she maintains that her Instagram story was private and would disappear after 24 hours, screenshots were taken and circulated, ultimately landing her in a national public spotlight.
In her suit, Orbison states several school board members and Sen. Marsha Blackburn critiqued her “political satire” as “despicable”, and claims the post was never meant to become public and would not have if the board members hadn’t shared the article. Five days after making the post, she was placed on unpaid suspension and banned from all district campuses with warnings of insubordination if she disobeyed the ban.
The suit also claims that several petitions, one with 77 student signatures, have been sent to the superintendent advocating for Orbison’s return to the classroom. Along with reinstation, her suit also demands a right to contact school officials, to continue organizing an upcoming class field trip, and to attend her 5-year-old daughter’s school book fair.
And another Tennessee educator is fighting her suspension for Charlie Kirk comments, though she has thus far not filed a lawsuit. Tamar Shirinian, an assistant professor of cultural anthropology at the University of Tennessee Knoxville (UTK), was placed on administrative leave amid termination proceedings after her controversial comments disparaging Kirk’s wife and children also went viral.
She has since written an appeal letter to the University Chancellor, asking for reconsideration and calling her post “ineloquent and heartless.” There has been no word yet on whether her appeal will be considered or if the University will stand firm in their decision to fire her for “actions endorsing violence and murder.”
About the Author: Olivia Lupia is a political refugee from Colorado who now calls Tennessee home. A proud follower of Christ, she views all political happenings through a Biblical lens and aims to utilize her knowledge and experience to educate and equip others. Olivia is an outspoken conservative who has run for local office, managed campaigns, and been highly involved with state & local GOPs, state legislatures, and other grassroots organizations and movements. Olivia can be reached at olivia@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
4 Responses
Sueage “teachers”.
If first amendment rights do not apply to non-employee students who post on social media, why would they apply to teachers who signed social media contracts forfeiting those rights? The school systems seem happy to consider non-employee, students’ social media writings and take disciplinary actions. Public school students have long been prepped for censorship and social credit scores. Where’s Hedy Weinberg?
Wait, your telling me the people who say that speech is violence and that you can’t call out Transvestites, the whole of the homosexual cult, or any Liberal Fascist or communist ideology- is now complaining that then slanderous “Hate Speech” they spread are now screaming, ” I am protected by the First Amendment. ”
I find it rich that persons who hate America, the Constitution, and God are now all of a sudden interested in it’s protection. These 20% or less of the population make the rules for the 80% plus, yet when their rules apply to them that doesn’t work for them. That is a elitist and hypocritical, but this has always been the MO of the Democrat, Dixiecrat, Commicrat Party or whatever we call them today.
These communities need to stand against these “teachers”. They are using our schools, that we pay for, as indoctrination stations and they have no place spreading their hate to our kids. They need to go to Board meetings, monitor classrooms, be proactive in getting these teachers out of the school system because I can guarantee they showed the parents who they are long before ther idiotic commie support of murder on live stream of someone they do not agree with (even though Charlie was much more sound than any of them).