New Hampshire's public schools have become a battleground as Republicans lawmakers and others move to honor and defend slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
At least two New Hampshire teachers are on paid leave for allegedly condoning or making light of Kirk’s murder. And House Majority Leader Jason Osborne announced new legislation Tuesday that would prohibit “leftist-indoctrination” in public schools. Teachers who violate the “CHARLIE Act” could lose their teaching credentials or be sued for up to $10,000 per incident.
Related: 'Emboldened and aggressive,' top NH Republicans urge action in wake of Kirk killing
The proposed legislation raises questions about educators’ free speech rights and illustrates that Republicans intend to continue exerting control of what's taught in New Hampshire schools. In recent years, they’ve banned diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and restricted instruction on race, gender, and sexual identity. Federal judges have temporarily halted those laws, citing teachers’ free speech rights.
Freedom of speech in — and outside — school
First Amendment lawyer Greg Sullivan said the two teachers put on leave for their reported comments about Kirk’s death may also have a free speech argument.
However, Sullivan said their comments may not be equally protected.
The Manchester Memorial High School teacher allegedly made his comments to students at school. The Timberlane High School teacher allegedly said he was “glad” Kirk is dead in a Facebook post.
Sullivan said comments made outside the classroom have more protection than what’s said in a school.
He pointed to a 2021 U.S. Supreme Court decision involving a Pennsylvania high school cheerleader who was suspended from the team for Snapchat posts that said “f— cheerleading” and “f— the school.” The court ruled her posts were protected by the First Amendment.
However, the court noted in a separate case that schools “have a special interest in regulating on-campus student speech that ‘materially disrupts classwork or involves substantial disorder or invasion of the rights of others.’ ”
“Students and teachers do not shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gates,” Sullivan said. “On the other hand, school superintendents and districts have the obligation to make sure that what's being taught is appropriate. So it's kind of a fine line.”
The two teachers facing scrutiny did not return NHPR's requests for comment. Justin Krieger, superintendent of the Timberlane Regional School District, declined to comment Tuesday.
Manchester Superintendent Jennifer Chmiel addressed the report in a message to staff that included a link to the district’s professional ethics policy. She asked staff to handle this matter “with grace.”
“We tried to give some general guidance without clipping anyone's free speech,” Chmiel said in an interview.
NHPR is not naming the teachers because their school districts have not released their names.
The "CHARLIE Act"
Immediately following Kirk’s assassination on a Utah college campus Thursday, one of the Legislature’s top Republicans called on his party to “get serious” about fighting what he called anti-American indoctrination in public institutions.
In an email Friday to House Republicans, Osborne said schools “have become the primary breeding ground for polarizing propaganda.”
Tuesday, Osborne went a step further and announced legislation that would ban “leftist indoctrination” in public schools.
The draft of the bill runs almost three pages and would prohibit teachers from a number of things, including treating LGBTQ+ “ideology” as “normative” or promoting divisiveness and anti-Constitutional "indoctrination." It also prohibits teachers from telling students the Constitution and legal system are “inherently illegitimate" or designed to perpetuate oppression based on race, gender, sexual orientation, and “other identity categories.”
The legislation requires teachers to provide students “factual, neutral instruction on historic events or figures.” Lessons on U.S. history could include slavery and the civil rights movement if they are presented “objectively.”
Former Manchester School Board member Richard Girard said concerns about classroom indoctrination prompted him to report the Manchester teacher’s alleged comments to the school district.
His report included allegations that the teacher negatively misrepresented Kirk’s views on LGBTQ+ issues and called Kirk a Nazi. Girard has claimed that numerous parents and students have shared similar concerns about the teacher.
“He is perpetuating the hostile rhetoric that led to the assassination of Charlie Kirk,” Girard said. “It is reprehensible and completely inappropriate in a classroom.”
Girard, who has documented his and other’s concerns about the teacher on his website, believes there is an appropriate way to discuss Kirk in the classroom. His definition aligns with Osborne’s bill.
“If the question is, ‘Is it allowed to have a classroom discussion facilitated by a teacher about the pros and cons of Charlie Kirk or any other political figure?’ Well of course,” Girard said. “And you would expect a teacher to have that discussion and to facilitate it in a neutral way that allows students to have their say. That's not what happened here.”
Both school districts are continuing their investigations.
