A Florida middle school teacher who was suspended without pay over a Facebook post about Charlie Kirk is one step closer to getting her job and lost wages back after an administrative law judge found that her comments caused little actual disruption to her school district.
According to the News Service of Florida through WUSF, Division of Administrative Hearings Judge Andrew Manko recommended that the Lee County School Board end Mariah Roller’s suspension and award her back pay. Roller, an educator at Three Oaks Middle School in Fort Myers, became one of several Florida teachers disciplined over Charlie Kirk comments posted after the conservative activist was shot and killed while appearing at Utah Valley University on September 10, 2025. Manko concluded that the disruption connected to Roller’s Facebook activity was “minimal.”
The judge also distinguished between Roller making the post and someone else spreading it outside her intended audience. In his August 14 recommended order, Manko wrote, “Ms. Roller’s private Facebook post on her personal Facebook page was not unethical, and it was not her action, but that of a third party, that resulted in its dissemination.”…