Popular baseball coach ‘FIRED by school for saying “Trump is our president” and voicing support for return to classroom’
A TEACHER said he was fired this month after he tweeted that Donald Trump “is our president” — and was given the choice to quit or be fired.
Justin Kucera, a Varsity baseball coach and history teacher at Walled Lake Western High School in Michigan, said he was pulled into a meeting with district officials after he supported Trump’s push to reopen schools.
Kucera told the Washington Free Beacon: “I was required to meet with [human resources], the superintendent, and my principal [on July 10].
“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.”
Kucera continued: “When they completed the meeting, I was told I had the option to either be fired or resign.”
The news outlet pointed out that on July 6, Kucera tweeted: “I’m done being silent. @realDonaldTrump is our president. Don’t @ me.”
I’m done being silent. @realDonaldTrump is our president
Don’t @ me
— Coach Kucera (@CoachKWLW) July 7, 2020
The school district told The Sun in a statement on Tuesday: “As a matter of policy and practice, Walled Lake Schools does not comment on current and/or former employees as it relates to specific personnel issues.”
“These are difficult times in our community and across our country. When issues arise there’s a temptation to view items through the lens of our fractured political discourse,” the district said. “Walled Lake encourages students and staff members to engage each other with mutual respect and civility.”
“We believe in the power of education and critical thinking. We believe vigorous community discussion, done with civility and mutual respect leads to productive and innovative outcomes.
“In the Walled Lake Schools’ educational setting, we encourage positive discourse and working together to make decisions that benefit our community.”
It’s unclear what specific tweets the school district took issue with.
Kucera retweeted a tweet from Trump that read: “SCHOOLS MUST OPEN IN THE FALL!!!”
As of Tuesday, Kucera’s Twitter account didn’t appear to touch much on politics, but he did seem to engage with students and student baseball players on the social media platform.
On April 8, Kucera wrote online that “A reporter just asked Trump if he would consider a pardon for Joe Exotic…I actually think that would probably be the smartest political move ever.”
Kucera told the Free Beacon of his tweet: “I know a lot of people are just rooting for Trump to fail, and I don’t think that anybody should do that.”
“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.”
Per the news outlet, Kucera was a popular teacher at the school.
The responses to his July 6 tweet about Trump were mixed: with some supporting him, and others saying he shouldn’t have tweeted about politics on an account that’s mainly used in his standing as a teacher.
“Just like I don’t appreciate watching football players kneeling, I wouldn’t appreciate someone that coaches my kids expressing their political views on a social media that is mostly associated with their work,” one Twitter user replied.
“With freedom comes responsibility to use it wisely.”
Another said: “I think you need a personal twitter account to state this. Your school account, using the ‘WLW coach’, must remain apolitical or at least no-partisan and is a privilege.”
One Twitter user wrote: “I can’t believe your school did this. I’d go and screenshot all the Obama, Clinton supporters. Talk about double standards.”
A recent student of the school where Kucera worked told the Free Beach that Kucera’s political views didn’t impact how he saw the man as a teacher and coach.
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“Prior to Mr Kucera’s tweet, I cannot recall an instance where he shared his political affiliations while teaching or coaching,” recent grad Bryant Hixson said.
“My political views have no impact on how I feel towards Mr Kucera. Mr Kucera has always been supportive of me as my AP World History and student leadership teacher and as my baseball and basketball coach.”
Multiple people told the news outlet that Kucera “never brought politics into the classroom.”