A Florida administrative law judge has ruled that Mariah Roller, a teacher at Three Oaks Middle School in Fort Myers, should be reinstated with back pay after Lee County suspended her over a private Facebook comment about Charlie Kirk. The judge found her post caused only minimal disruption to school operations, but the Lee County School Board is not legally required to accept that recommendation.
Roller posted a comment criticizing Kirk's past defense of the Second Amendment on September 10, 2025, the day Kirk was assassinated by a gunman while speaking at a Utah college. She wrote, “What's that about the cost of the Second Amendment being 'some gun deaths every year,'? Bye Charlie,” according to Orlando Weekly, which reported that Roller deleted the post less than an hour after publishing it. Her comment referenced remarks Kirk made at an April 2023 Turning Point USA event in Salt Lake City, where he said he thought it was worth accepting a cost of some gun deaths every year to protect Second Amendment rights, a quote confirmed by Snopes' fact-check of Kirk's public statements.
Despite Roller deleting the post quickly, it was screenshotted and spread on social media after being cut and shared without its full context, the outlet reported. Two parents complained to the Lee County School Board, and the school's principal received between 15 and 20 emails about the post, sending a generic response to only a few of them, per the same account.
Judge Finds Minimal Disruption, Board Disagrees
DOAH Judge Andrew Manko recommended ending Roller's suspension, ruling that her private Facebook post was not unethical and that a third party, not Roller, was responsible for disseminating it more widely. Manko found that Roller's remark caused minimal disruption to the Lee County School Board, according to the report. The Lee County School Board, however, argued that the post caused substantial disruption at the school, setting up a direct conflict between the district's position and the judge's findings.
Under Section 120.57 of the Florida Statutes, DOAH administrative law judges issue recommended orders that return to the local school board, which retains ultimate legal authority to adopt, modify, or reject the recommendation before entering final agency action, according to Castro Potts Law Firm. That means Manko's ruling does not automatically put Roller back in her classroom — the board still has to vote on it.
A Martin County Precedent Looms Over the Case
The stakes of that board vote are underscored by what happened in Martin County. DOAH Judge Jodi-Ann Livingstone recommended in June that the Martin County School Board rescind social studies teacher Matthew Theobald's termination and award him back pay and benefits, ruling the board had failed to prove just cause for suspending and firing him over a post describing Kirk as a “racist, misogynistic, fear-mongering neo-Nazi.” District officials argued Theobald's post directly disrupted school operations because Turning Point USA maintains active student chapters inside Martin County public schools, per WQIK.
The Martin County superintendent filed exceptions objecting to Livingstone's recommended order, and the school board ultimately rejected it, voting to affirm Theobald's suspension and termination, as reported by CBS Miami and the News Service of Florida. That outcome now looms over Lee County's decision, raising the question of whether the board will follow Martin County's lead in overriding a DOAH judge's findings or accept Manko's recommendation to reinstate Roller.
Statewide Pressure From Tallahassee
The disciplinary pressure on Florida teachers over Kirk-related posts traces back to a directive from the state's top education official. Florida Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas issued a memo the day after Kirk's shooting warning that educators making “despicable comments” online about his death could face termination and teaching certificate revocation, and he wrote that he would investigate every Florida educator engaging in sanctionable social-media behavior. The Florida Department of Education threatened disciplinary action against educators whose posts violated employee conduct policies, adding a layer of state-level exposure on top of any local school board decision.
Roller was not the only Lee County educator disciplined over Kirk posts. Lemuel Teal Middle School teacher Brooke Wold was suspended without pay pending termination, and Diplomat Elementary PE teacher Morgan Wright received a 10-day suspension and mandatory reassignment, according to WGCU News. Wold and Wright have since filed federal civil rights lawsuits against Lee County Schools Superintendent Dr. Denise Carlin, alleging their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated over the disciplinary actions.
License Revocation Still Possible Even With Reinstatement
Even if the Lee County School Board accepts Manko's recommendation and reinstates Roller, she could still face separate action from the state. Commissioner Kamoutsas has pursued license revocation proceedings against other Florida educators over Kirk-related posts, independent of whatever a local district decides. In Clay County, the commissioner found probable cause on four state Education Code violations against an ESE teacher, Kelly Brock-Sanchez, who was suspended in September 2025 and later filed a federal lawsuit after officials moved to fire her, a case Hoodline previously reported.
The Martin County School Board has made no final determination public beyond its rejection of Livingstone's recommendation in Theobald's case, and state and local government agencies are not legally required to abide by DOAH rulings, since such rulings function only as recommendations. Whether the Lee County School Board will vote to reinstate Roller with back pay, as the judge recommended, or instead follow Martin County's example remains an open question the board has yet to answer.
