A high school baseball coach said he was fired by a Michigan school district after tweeting “Trump is our president,” but the school is denying his claim.
Justin Kucera, a social studies teacher and varsity baseball coach at Walled Lake Western High School in Commerce Township, Michigan, told the Washington Free Beacon that he was brought into a closed-door meeting with school officials and given an ultimatum after tweeting, “I’m done being silent. Donald Trump is our president” earlier this month.
I’m done being silent. @realDonaldTrump is our president ❌????
Don’t @ me
— Coach Kucera (@CoachKWLW) July 7, 2020
“I was required to meet with [human resources], the superintendent, and my principal [on July 10],” Kucera told the Free Beacon. “They initially took my statement on why I tweeted those tweets and they told me they would have a decision about my future employment in the upcoming days. When they completed the meeting, I was told I had the option to either be fired or resign.”
The former coach, who the Free Beacon described as a “popular figure at the high school before the episode,” apologized for the “negative attention” the tweet brought, but not the content.
Your taxes are paying for thishttps://t.co/bvjRh3hbyJ
— Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) July 21, 2020
“I know a lot of people are just rooting for Trump to fail, and I don’t think that anybody should do that,” he explained, according to the outlet. “Agree with him or not, you should want the president to do well. I apologized that [my tweet] brought so much negative attention, but I’m not sorry for what I said.”
After quoting sources defending the former teacher, the Free Beacon related two cases of Walled Lake teachers expressing other kinds of political views “without any repercussions.” (RELATED: Teacher Who Was Fired For ‘Misgendering’ A Student Slaps School With Lawsuit)
Paulette Loe, a now-retired Walled Lake Western teacher, encouraged students to read an article from the Atlantic about “how to beat Trump” while still employed. Nicole Estes, a kindergarten teacher in the district, called Trump a “sociopath” and a “narcissist” on Facebook in 2016 and is still employed at Keith Elementary School.
The Daily Caller received the following message from Walled Lake Consolidated Schools community relations director Judy L. Evola: “Thank you for your inquiry. Accurate information is essential. Please know that 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. Additionally, Mr. Gutman was not in any such meeting.”