Are NC schools able to fire teachers for critical posts about Charlie Kirk?
In recent days, supporters of slain media personality Charlie Kirk have taken to social media to denounce posts critical of Kirk and those that they say celebrate political violence. Some have called for educators, including Charlotte-area teachers, and others around the country to be fired.
Local lawyers said it’s not legal to fire public employees for most speech online, with narrow exceptions. But also, they’re not as secure in longstanding speech protections as they once were.
“We’re in a different America,” said Josh Van Kampen, a Charlotte employment attorney and vice chairman of the Mecklenburg County Bar Association’s Labor and Employment section. “As a lawyer paying attention to the Supreme Court precedents that we used to rely upon, I wonder if they’re worth the paper they’re written on anymore.”
What’s happened
Kirk, a conservative media personality and activist who, in part, delivered large gains in the youth vote for President Donald Trump in the 2024 election, was assassinated Sept. 10 at a university in Utah. A televised memorial was held Sunday in Arizona, where Kirk’s widow Erika Kirk spoke, alongside Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance, to the crowd of thousands.
As of Monday, The American Association of University Professors had heard about retaliation against around 60 professors and teachers in connection with critical comments they made about Kirk, the New York Times reported.
Two Charlotte-area public school teachers were investigated for posts following Kirk’s death, Gaston County Schools and Lake Norman Charter in Huntersville, confirmed Sept. 11.
Since then, Lake Norman Charter no longer employs the teacher involved, a representative of the school told The Charlotte Observer.
“After a comprehensive investigation that the gravity of this situation called for, we announced to our school stakeholders that the staff member who posted inappropriate social media content in relation to the Charlie Kirk killing is no longer employed by Lake Norman Charter,” the spokesperson said.
It’s not clear whether the individual was fired or resigned, and the spokesperson said she could not further discuss details of personnel matters.
Gaston County Schools has not yet responded to questions about what has come of its investigation.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools board of education member Melissa Easley also drew attention from right-wing social media account LibsofTiktok, for a post on her personal Facebook page that LibsofTiktok claimed “mocks and demonizes” Kirk. LibsofTiktok has 4.4 million followers on X.
Meanwhile, Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina, announced it is investigating an employee after Republican South Carolina Rep. Thomas Beach, posted a screenshot of the employee’s Facebook page on X. The employee had shared a video of a pastor calling Kirk an “unapologetic racist” and “evil.”
Also, a South Carolina teacher’s aide who was fired for a post criticizing Kirk earlier this month has filed a federal lawsuit over the termination, arguing Spartanburg County School District 5 violated her rights to freedom of speech.
What does the law say?
In general, public employees’ speech about “matters of public concern,” political issues or their personal lives is protected by the First Amendment, said Ivy Johnson, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina.
“Most speech, particularly in this instance, would be considered protected under the First Amendment, because the assassination of a public figure at a public university is certainly a matter of public concern,” Johnson said. “It touches on significant political issues. I think most people would have opinions on the matter, and they are allowed under the First Amendment to express those opinions.”
Speech being “protected” means not just that someone can’t be jailed for that speech, she said. It also means that public employees cannot have “adverse actions” taken against them for protected speech, including being fired or demoted.
According to Supreme Court precedent, public employees’ speech on matters of public concern is protected as long as it doesn’t “interfere with their employer’s ability to operate sufficiently,” Van Kampen said.
“Public employees in North Carolina – that includes public school teachers, town employees, etc. – are protected from retaliation for exercising their First Amendment rights under the federal Constitution and also under the North Carolina Constitution,” he told The Observer. “But, those are not limitless rights. There are some guardrails.”
North Carolina law prohibits public employees from engaging in partisan political activity during work hours or using government resources, for example.
In federal law, there are some restrictions on free speech for public employees, especially teachers. For example, hate speech, “fighting words” – specific calls to violence – or sharing personal information about students is not protected speech.
However, Johnson said these exceptions are narrowly defined.
“Even speech that might rise to the level of condoning violence… if the person is not actively calling on people to do something, and if the speech doesn’t rise to the level of ‘fighting words’, that’s protected,” she said. “We get to express our opinions, even if others disagree or find them offensive, as long as those opinions don’t fall into these otherwise very narrowly defined categories of speech that are not protected.”
The same rules don’t apply, however, to private employers and employees, including private schools. North Carolina is an “at-will” state, which means that, unless there is a specific law to protect employees or there is an employment contract providing otherwise, then a private employer can fire an employee for any reason or no reason at all.
“One of the biggest misconceptions that everyday Americans have is that their First Amendment rights apply to a private employer setting, and they don’t,” Van Kampen said. “So, public employees are covered with more protections to express themselves under the First Amendment.”
Still, Van Kampen called Kirk’s death a “lightning rod,” and said he would advise employees to avoid posting about it.
“I’m worried that judges and jurors might treat speech around this topic differently than they do other matters of public concern because it involves an assassination and gun violence,” he said. “As much as I’m an advocate for free speech, my practical advice to employees and teachers in this state is just stay away from public comments on that on social media.”
Some of that concern, he said, is because of a rapidly shifting legal landscape, where protections aren’t as certain as they once were.
“I can’t say that the Constitution means what it meant 10 months ago, because it doesn’t,” Van Kampen said. “And that’s actually a painful comment for me to say, as a lawyer, as someone who represents employees, but I’m worried.”
This story was originally published September 23, 2025 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Are NC schools able to fire teachers for critical posts about Charlie Kirk?."
