What Teachers Should & Shouldn’t Post On Social Media Right Now, According To An Employment Lawyer

Last week, the United States witnessed another horrific act of gun violence, this time via our social media feeds, as the footage of Charlie Kirk being shot and killed during a speaking event in Utah circulated online. Kirk was a well-known conservative media personality, podcast host, and co-founder of Turning Point USA, whose talking points have earned him droves and fans while also drawing criticism for being racist, misogynist, and more. His polarizing persona led to a harsh divide following his death as people reacted online, others reacted to the reactions they didn’t like, and, well, now we’re here: teachers and professors nationwide are being disciplined or fired over their social media posts about Kirk’s death.

Educators in multiple states — Virginia, Texas, Mississippi, California, Florida, and many more — have been suspended or even let go from their positions as a result of sharing “insensitive posts” about Kirk’s death to their personal social media, NBC News reports.

In some states, it’s more than employers choosing to part ways with employees; the government itself is seeking to punish teachers. Last week, Florida Commissioner of Education Anastasios Kamoutsas sent a letter to superintendents statewide, warning that the state “will hold teachers who choose to make disgusting comments about the horrific assassination of Charlie Kirk accountable,” and saying teachers should “govern yourselves accordingly.”

This is a new level of surveillance and doxxing that most of us are simply not accustomed to. We tend to think of our personal social media as ours, a protected place separate from our professional persona where we’re free to speak our minds and be ourselves.

Scary Mommy spoke with an employment lawyer to find out if that’s really the case, and how teachers and educators should navigate social media in this new climate.

What can teachers legally post about on their social media accounts?

It depends on whether you teach at a public or private school, and the specific laws in your state.

“If you're a public employee, the First Amendment does give you some protections as far as what kind of speech you can or can't be disciplined for,” says Gabe Roberts, a partner with the Scott Law Team, an employment law firm in Florida. “There's no First Amendment right for a private employee. The First Amendment is a limit on the government. It's not a limit on private companies. So if you are a teacher at a private school that is a fully private institution, they're not bound by the First Amendment. And there's no right to political expression in Florida, unlike other states. For example, in California political expression is a protected characteristic in the same way that race, age, sex, religion are. In Florida, it is not.”

If you want to express your political beliefs online, it would behoove you to look into your state’s laws and whether political expression is part of anti-discrimination laws where you live. Even public school teachers should know that not all speech is protected by the First Amendment.

“If you're a public school employee, not just a teacher, you do have the First Amendment right to freedom of speech, but it needs to be something you're saying as a citizen, not as a government employee. It needs to be on a matter of public concern and your interests in saying the thing need to outweigh the state's interest in promoting efficiency in the workplace. So it's a limited right, even for public employees, what they can or can't say,” Roberts says.

Anything you post on your personal social media that is unrelated to your job as a teacher should be protected by your First Amendment right, Roberts says. However, he says that “under the current administration, [there has been] more of a crackdown on teachers' speech and rights, particularly on political issues that go against the current administration.”

Essentially, just because something should be protected does not mean your employer or state can’t reprimand you or fire you for it.

“What I think the First Amendment would or wouldn't cover is very different from what the state will or won't do, or can or can't do. Should they fire you for that? No, probably not because it's protected, but that's going to be on you to be able to challenge it and then hope that the court system will do the right thing, but they don't always."

What should teachers post & not post about right now?

It’s painful to say because we are all used to speaking freely, but Roberts advises that educators refrain from posting about hot-button issues right now.

“As much as it can feel really good in the moment to share a post or to say something that is really powerful and moving, I would stay off social media because your employer is probably watching, and the state is probably watching,” he says. “You should not assume that you are going to be legally protected or that they can't terminate your employment just because you think you might be protected for what you're saying. And so as wrong as it sounds, my advice typically to folks is just to stay off social media.”

If this whole situation feels wrong or troubles you, you’re not alone. Roberts encourages teachers, especially those who have been sanctioned or let go as a result of their posts about Charlie Kirk, to speak with an employment lawyer.

“I wouldn't want anybody to interpret this as meaning that if you get fired for something you post that you should just accept that and move on. There might be something unique to your situation.”