Florida Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas this week announced probable cause to revoke the educational license of an elementary teacher in the Sunshine State who celebrated Charlie Kirk’s death.
Referencing vile posts made by teachers, Kamoutsas said, “These posts made by individuals tasked with protecting the health, the safety, and the welfare of students have celebrated and encouraged violence in schools.”
He made it clear that this is unacceptable behavior from educators and that it will “not be tolerated” in Florida. Further, he said these posts essentially teach vulnerable students that violence is the “an acceptable response to differing beliefs — an idea that has no place and will have no place here in Florida schools.”
He referenced the memo he issued two weeks ago to district superintendents, “providing clear guidance and expectations for districts to share with their teachers.”
“In Florida, we uphold the First Amendment and we foster civil discourse as well as open dialog in our schools. However, this commitment does not extend to promoting or glorifying violence as a means of resolving disagreement,” he said, reiterating that the Office of Professional practices services, housed in the Florida Department of Education, “will be conducting thorough investigations into each case where this type of conduct has been posted.”
That office investigated one such teacher in Clay County, Kamoutsas revealed, who had made what he described as “callous and unconscionable comments on social media celebrating the death of Charlie Kirk.”
He quoted the teacher as writing, “‘This may not be the obituary we were all hoping to wake up to, but this is a close second for me,'” noting that “attached to that post was an article explaining that Charlie Kirk was assassinated at a school.”
“There was an outcry from the community regarding the teacher’s comments,” he said, revealing that the Clay County School District received over 500 complaints about this teacher’s post. This resulted in the district having to increase security measures to “ensure the safety of students and teachers, costing district time and money and furthering the discomfort of the students in that district.”
All that being said, Kamoutsas said he identified probable cause for four different charges.
“Number one, gross immorality. Number two, failure to protect the health, safety and welfare of students. Number three, reduce effectiveness as an educator, and number four, failing to distinguish her personal views from that of a public educational institution,” he said, announcing that they are “seeking the revocation of this educator’s license.”
“Holding educators accountable for speech that celebrates violence in schools is not a violation of free speech,” he added.
This comes as the Florida Department of Education fulfills its promise to investigate teachers in the state who celebrated the political assassination of Kirk. Kamoutsas wrote in a letter that he has seen several “despicable comments” made by educators in the wake of Kirk’s death, promising to investigate “every educator who engages in this vile, sanctionable behavior.”
“Florida law allows the Commissioner to find probable cause to discipline an educator who, ‘upon investigation, has been found guilty of personal conduct that seriously reduces that person’s effectiveness as an employee of the district school board,’” he wrote, warning educators, “Govern yourselves accordingly.”