A Michigan high school teacher says he was fired this month after tweeting in support of President Trump, though the school district denies the allegations.
Justin Kucera, 28, a social studies teacher and baseball coach at Walled Lake Western High School, said he was given a choice to be fired or resign after a Zoom meeting with district administrators over three of his July 6 tweets, The Detroit News reported.
The posts in question included a retweet of the president’s tweet that declared, “SCHOOLS MUST OPEN IN THE FALL” and a tweet that said, “I’m done being silent. @realDonaldTrump is our president … Don’t @ me.”
The former teacher then responded to a reply to his tweet by writing, “Liberals suck man,” with that post later deleted.
Kucera said he maintained in the Zoom meeting that the tweets meant he agreed that schools should reopen and that he intended his tweet about the president to be “unifying.”
He said the “liberals” tweet was intended to be sarcastic and was deleted a few hours after it went up, according to The Detroit News.
“I think we should be rooting for him to succeed because if the president succeeds we all succeed,” he said.
Kucera said that in a second Zoom meeting, when he declined to resign, he was informed his last day would be July 17.
The Washington Free Beacon first reported Kucera’s allegations Tuesday morning.
Walled Lake Consolidated Schools denied Kucera’s allegations, with Superintendent Kenneth Gutman telling Fox Business, “No disciplinary action was taken as a result of any support of President Trump and we are unable to comment on specific staff discipline/personnel matters.”
Judy Evola, the director of community relations for the district, told The Detroit News that the district believes in “critical thinking,” “positive discourse,” and civil and respectful “community discussion.”
“These are difficult times in our community and across our country,” she said. “When issues arise, there’s a temptation to view items through the lens of our fractured political discourse. Walled Lake encourages students and staff members to engage each other with mutual respect and civility.”
Kucera said the union informed him that the posts could be perceived as interfering with the school’s business, as the school was listed in his Twitter bio. But the former teacher alleged that other teachers have posted negative comments about the president and have not gotten in trouble.
The story prompted responses from several Republican leaders, including Michigan Republican Party Chairwoman Laura Cox, who tweeted, “Cancel culture continues to go too far.”
Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel reportedly tweeted out Gutman’s Twitter handle, email and phone number for people to tell him about the “disgraceful double standard,” according to The Detroit News.
“While liberal teachers in the school district went unpunished, a teacher was fired for expressing support for @realDonaldTrump,” McDaniel said in a since-deleted tweet.