Residents urge Harris County board to fire teacher over celebration of Charlie Kirk’s assassination; board cites closed‑session statutes

Two residents told a Harris County board meeting they want a teacher fired after they said the teacher celebrated the assassination of Charlie Kirk, and they called for placement of the teacher on the Texas Education Agency’s Do Not Hire list. The board then announced it would enter closed session citing Texas Government Code provisions that allow executive‑session discussion of personnel and other confidential matters.

The comments came during the public comment period, which the meeting notice said required in‑person registration five minutes before the start of the meeting and limited each speaker to three minutes. Audrey Anderson, identified at the meeting as the board clerk, served as timekeeper.

"Assassination is not something to be celebrated," said Mike Wolf, identifying himself as a lifelong Harris County resident and a former trustee of the Harris County Department of Education. Wolf said he learned of the "assassination of Charlie" on Sept. 10 and called for termination of any teacher who celebrated it. "Each teacher who celebrated the cold blooded assassination of Charlie Kirk or anyone else for that matter must be terminated and placed on the TEA's do not hire list," he said. Wolf also said "this is not about freedom of speech. It's about following the terms set out in the teacher's contract."

A second speaker, identified in the meeting only as a resident, said the teacher was "pushing an agenda" outside what should be taught in public schools and that a student had sought removal from the class but was denied. The resident asked the board to remove the teacher if the classroom instruction fell outside the district's expectations: "Pushing an agenda of one's beliefs that are outside of the spectrum of what we're supposed to be teaching in our public schools cannot be accepted."

The speakers repeatedly framed their requests as personnel actions governed by the teacher's contract and by rules that "govern the TEA," saying termination and placing the person on the TEA's Do Not Hire list would be the appropriate remedy. The transcript does not record any objection, response, or vote by board members in the public comment period.

After the public comment period, a board speaker announced a closed session and read a list of Texas Government Code citations, including Chapter 551 provisions often used to authorize executive sessions on personnel and confidential matters. The transcript records the reading of the code section numbers but does not show any formal motion, vote, or final action on the employment status of the teacher in the public portion of the meeting.

The meeting record provided does not indicate whether the board will take personnel action, whether the matter will be investigated by district staff, or when the board might publicly report any result from the closed session.