Texas Teacher Resigns After Horrific Charlie Kirk Posts
A teacher with the Goose Creek Consolidated Independent School District resigned while in the middle of a formal termination process stemming from social media comments she made about the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. District officials confirmed that Jennifer Courtemanche resigned on Nov. 24, months into a hearing process that had been initiated by the school board.
Courtemanche’s social media posts went viral after Texas Rep. Briscoe Cain shared screenshots questioning Kirk’s death and suggesting it may have been the result of his actions, The Houston Chronicle reported.
“Could this have been the consequences of his actions catching up with him?” Courtemanche wrote in one post.
“I’ll bet if the victim had been Black or brown or a Democrat influencer, he’d have been singing a different tune,” she wrote in another. “Could Kirk have baited just one too many people?”
Courtemanche previously listed Baytown’s Lee High School as her place of employment on her Facebook page, which has since been restricted.
The English language arts teacher described herself in her social media bio as a “child of God” and a “work in progress.”
Courtemanche, who retained legal counsel, had initially told district officials she did not intend to voluntarily resign.
The Goose Creek CISD Employee Handbook states that employees may face discipline, including termination, if electronic communications violate state or federal law or interfere with their ability to perform job duties.
Despite public calls for her resignation, including from Cain, district officials noted that Texas law requires a multi step process before a teacher can be terminated.
The Goose Creek CISD Board of Trustees voted during a Sept. 22 meeting to propose Courtemanche’s termination.
Under state law, teachers may request a hearing before an independent examiner appointed by the Texas Education Agency.
The examiner has 60 days to conduct an evidentiary hearing and issue a recommendation, after which the school board determines whether good cause exists to terminate the contract.
District officials said that process would have continued had Courtemanche not resigned.
The district also reviewed comments made by another teacher regarding Kirk’s death but determined those remarks did not rise to the level of good cause for termination.
Following Kirk’s killing, the Texas Education Agency announced it had received more than 350 complaints against teachers for social media comments related to the incident.
Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath warned school leaders that free speech does not extend to promoting or celebrating violence.
“While the exercise of free speech is a fundamental right we are all blessed to share, it does not give carte blanche authority to celebrate or sow violence against those that share differing beliefs and perspectives,” Morath wrote in a letter to superintendents
Erika Kirk had a powerful moment this week when she fiercely called out people who have been exploiting Charlie Kirk’s death and attacking her family since he was fatally shot.
During a segment on Fox’s “Outnumbered,” Kirk spoke about the tragic death of her late husband, his work to start TPUSA, and the “horrible smears” that have been levied against her and other TPUSA members since Charlie’s death in September.
“Here’s my breaking point. Come after me, call me names, I don’t care. Call me what you want, go down that rabbit hole, whatever. But when you go after my family, my Turning Point USA family, my Charlie Kirk Show family, when you go after the people that I love and you’re making hundreds and thousands of dollars every single episode going after the people that I love because somehow they’re in on this, no!” Kirk charged.
“Can my children have one thing? Everything was public. Can my babies have one thing where we hold it sacred, where my husband is laid to rest, where I don’t have to be worried about some secular revolutionary coming and destroying my husband’s grave while my daughter is sitting there praying?” she shot back.