The Oglethorpe County School District in Georgia has agreed to pay $270,420 to settle a lawsuit brought by former English teacher Michelle Mickens, who alleged the district violated her constitutional right to free speech. An additional $17,000 will cover her attorney's fees.
The settlement ends a legal dispute initiated after Mickens, a finalist for Georgia Teacher of the Year, claimed administrators pressured her to resign over comments made on her private Facebook account following the September 2025 killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The school system, under the terms of the agreement, denies all allegations and admits no wrongdoing.
Mickens had been a teacher for over two decades and had not previously faced disciplinary action. Her lawsuit stated that administrators moved quickly to remove her after screenshots of her Facebook posts were shared publicly. She argued that her comments were made outside of work hours, on her personal computer, and did not interfere with her professional duties or school operations. Her attorneys also alleged that the district lacked a clear policy on off-duty social media activity and that other employees who expressed support for Kirk were not disciplined.
The case gained national attention as it was one of several instances across the country where educators faced disciplinary actions for social media posts related to Kirk's death. Kirk, co-founder of Turning Point USA, was fatally shot while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University. His death sparked widespread condemnation and intense online debate.
Mickens' private Facebook posts included a quote from Kirk about gun rights, which read, "I think it's worth it. I think it's worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights." As friends responded, Mickens joined the discussion, stating, "I don't condone violence of any kind, and I certainly don't condone this, but he was a horrible person, a fascist full of hate." She added, "While I'm sad that we live in a country where gun violence is an epidemic, the world is a bit safer without him."
According to the lawsuit, screenshots of the comments were amplified by an X account with over 600,000 followers, which reportedly identified Mickens' employer and provided contact information for her principal. Mickens sought reinstatement, removal of disciplinary records, compensation for lost wages, and damages for emotional distress and reputational harm.
Sam Boyd, a senior supervising attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center and part of Mickens' legal team, stated, "As courts across the country have recognized in other cases involving firings over comments about Charlie Kirk, and many other topics, 'public school employees, including teachers, have a constitutionally protected right to free speech.'"
The settlement follows similar cases where public employees received substantial settlements for First Amendment disputes related to comments about Kirk's death, including a $1.9 million settlement for a professor at the University of Tennessee, a $225,000 agreement for an Indiana University employee, and over $200,000 for a teacher in Iowa. In Georgia, at least two teachers in Cobb County lost their jobs for posts allegedly celebrating Kirk's death.