The Oklahoma State Department of Education is attempting to remove a teacher’s license over a 2019 social media photo.
Regan Killackey shared a photo five years ago showing him and his family in a costume store posing with a mask of Donald Trump. Killackey and one of his children are holding plastic swords, intimating an attack on the mask.
The photo, shared to Facebook, was of no consequence until five years later when — in the aftermath of Trump’s first assassination attempt — someone sent a screenshot of the post to the Oklahoma Department of Education with a description: “Posted picture on personal Instagram account of the fictitious stabbing of fake presidential candidate mask.”
Oklahoma Watch reports that the department took swift and harsh action, dishing out the toughest discipline possible: revoking Killackey’s teaching certificate.
The case is being overseen by Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters who Oklahoma Watch describes as “prioritizing punishing a teacher over political speech he disagreed with in order to score political points.”
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.
However, the First Amendment prevents disciplining a teacher for political speech — or in this case, a photo — made as a private citizen.
“It doesn’t matter if people find the remarks unpalatable,” Ken Paulson, director of the Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University, tells Oklahoma Watch. “No amount of political outrage can undermine their constitutional rights.”
Killackey teaches AP English in Edmond and is one of the plaintiffs suing Oklahoma over HB 1775, a bill that bans the teaching of certain concepts around race and gender.
“Well number one, I was shocked,” Killackey tells News 4 about his reaction. “And number two, I thought it was some sort of mistake or some prank or something like that.”
Killackey has been a teacher for over 20 years but the department has taken the first steps to remove his license. For now, he remains certified.
If the case turns into a legal process, it will be taxpayers who foot the bill and Tommy Adler of Adler Markoff & Associates tells News 4 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,” says Adler.
Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.