Regan Killackey Oklahoma teacher fights to keep his teaching license after fake sword pointed at Trump photo from 2019 is used to score political expediency over a teacher’s right to private life, free speech and due process.
Has one state education board gone overboard? Put political expediency ahead of free speech and due process?
The Oklahoma State Department of Education has sought to revoke an educator’s teaching certificate after a ‘tipster’ sent off a Facebook photo dating from 2019 to the department.
The image taken by Edmond Memorial High School English teacher Regan Killackey’s children at a party supply store may now jeopardise their father’s career.
Just horsing around …
A copy of the photo obtained by Oklahoma Watch shows Killackey along with his daughter and son posing with plastic swords pointed at a person in a Donald Trump mask from September 2019.
Wrote the tipster days after a July 13 attempt on Trump’s life in Butler, Pennsylvania, ‘Posted picture on personal Instagram account of the fictitious stabbing of fake presidential candidate mask.’
‘I am a tax pay (sic) and will NOT condone this type of indoctrination of our youth. Please look into this matter.’
The shared image which comes days after a second attempt on the life of former President Donald Trump has since raised the ire of the Oklahoma Dept of Education with the entity filing to remove Killackey’s teacher certification – the harshest discipline the department can take against an educator. Such proceedings are typically reserved for serious offenses, such as child abuse, predatory behavior or criminal charges.
But what seems missing is the context and innocence of when the photos were originally taken and seemingly an attempt to now politicise a father’s innocent ‘horsing around’ with his children (let us not forget, Trump is still a public figure) and it can not be shown or proved that the images from 2019 were an attempt to inspire violence and to communicate any political imperative. But that is not the way Oklahoma education officials see matters.
Define free speech? Due process? Political expediency?
Notes Oklahoma Watch: ‘But in Killackey’s case, Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters prioritized punishing a teacher over political speech he disagreed with in order to score political points.’
This while bearing in mind that the The First Amendment prohibits disciplining a teacher for political speech made as a private citizen, as attested by free speech experts.
‘For Walters, who is attempting to build this profile of a patriotic American wrapped in a flag, this sort of behavior is about as un-American as it gets,’ Ryan Kiesel, a civil rights attorney and former state representative told the Oklahoma Watch.
Walters is a former public school teacher who was elected to his post in 2022, and ran on a platform of fighting ‘woke ideology,‘ banning books from school libraries and getting rid of what he claimed are ‘radical leftists’ attempting to indoctrinate children in classrooms.
As recently as April, Walters ordered schools to ‘completely ignore’ Joe Biden ‘s new rules promoting children’s LGBTQ rights.
The department’s attempt to oust Killackey has led to the English teacher expressing disbelief.
‘Well number one, I was shocked. And number two, I thought it was some sort of mistake or some prank or something like that,’ Killackey told KFOR.
Adding, ‘My entire career has been in the state of Oklahoma and I’ve been teaching for 21 years. I have been fortunate and blessed to have this career.’
Killackey found out the state was seeking revocation when his name appeared on the July 31 board agenda. The Department didn’t mail its application to revoke until Aug. 22, weeks past the statutory deadline of three days according to the Oklahoma Watch.
Walters, a Donald Trump supporter, has previously stated that: ‘There is no place for a teacher with a liberal political agenda in the classroom.’
‘We want to make sure to send a message loud and clear: no one will be able to teach in the state of Oklahoma if they advocate for the assassination of President Trump, or any elected official,’ Walters said at a July 31 meeting, referring to Killackey.
Added context comes with the fact that Killackey happens to be one of the plaintiffs suing Oklahoma over HB 1775, a bill that bans the teaching of certain concepts around race and gender – which Superintendent Walters has sought to ban at schools.
Revocation is a legal process and the teacher holds the right to have a hearing, bring witnesses and obtain legal representation. At its core is due process and the right to know the nature of the charges and evidence.
Due process rights exist to protect citizens from unfair or improper government intrusion.
For now Killackey continues to hold his teacher’s license, but if the case turns into a legal process, it will be taxpayers who foot the bill and Tommy Adler of Adler Markoff & Associates tells KFOR it would be an easy case to win.
‘The Supreme Court’s been incredibly clear. I may disagree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your ability to say it. It’s the core of First Amendment speech,’ Adler told the outlet.
