KDSN RADIO News
Iowa teacher faces firing over post about Charlie Kirk’s death
An Oskaloosa teacher has been placed on administrative leave and could be fired as soon as next week for comments posted on social media after the shooting death of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk.
Matt Kargol, a high school art teacher, allegedly shared a post that said: “1 Nazi down.” Oskaloosa superintendent Mike Fisher said the post violated the district’s social media policies.
“We had over a thousand contacts of emails, phone calls, text messages, social media traffic reaching out to us, very upset,” Fisher said. “We definitely knew we had a disruption at the school, so it’s something we have to handle aligned with our policy and our vision culture.”
The Oskaloosa school board has scheduled a hearing on Wednesday night to consider firing the teacher. “If speech begins to impede on the learning environment, that can cause major issues that we have to deal with, with the employee,” Fisher said.
Under Iowa law, Kargol may ask that the hearing be private or for a delay of up to 40 days. The Iowa Department of Education, in a post on social media, said there are several reports of “disturbing” and “reprehensible” comments about Kirk’s death that were allegedly made by school personnel. House Speaker Pat Grassley said in a Facebook post that if schools don’t take action to respond to these cases, the legislature will. State Representative Austin Harris, a Republican from Moulton who’s chairman of the panel that drafts education spending bills, said any school district “that continues to employ individuals who endorsed Kirk’s assassination will face severe consequences.”
(By Isabella Luu, Iowa Public Radio/Radio Iowa’s O. Kay Henderson)
