A newly hired Illinois elementary school art teacher has been fired for social media posts detailing their violent mental illness and Satan worship.
The Homer Community Consolidated School District 33C Board fired the teacher, Kris Martin, on Sunday after a special board meeting that was flooded with concerned parents.
Martin’s social media posts went viral after they were posted by the massively popular Libs of TikTok account on X, the platform formerly known as “Twitter.”
“I HAVE BI POLAR 1 DISORDER WITH MANIA AND PSYCHOSIS! This condition has drastically changed my life for better and worse. Because of it I suffer from irrational thought processes which make my fears and anxieties triple. Every day is a battle with my mind to survive and be the best me I can be,” one of the teacher’s posts began.
.@Homer33c just hired this person as an elementary school teacher. These are some of he/they’s posts:
Would you be comfortable with this person teaching your kids? pic.twitter.com/Y0M4qcyJ7J
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) August 17, 2023
The post added, “I have done things in conditions of psychosis and mania that have been violent and hurtful.”
Other posts featured the teacher in a shirt by the designer who was dropped for Satanic imagery by Target after being hired to design merchandise for their Pride line.
The shirt features an image of Satan and says, “Satan Respects Pronouns.” Martin had captioned an image wearing it with “Hail Satan.” Another post read, “Love the Devil Back.”
Martin had also posted an image of a “f-ck the police” banner with an upside-down flag.
“Social media is a public forum. If this person is saying and posting this publicly, what will he do behind closed doors with our children?” one parent asked at the meeting, according to a report from Fox News.
“Hiring a teacher with unpredictable behavior for elementary school is neglectful,” another parent said at the meeting. “As elected officials for Homer Glen schools, it is your job to do what is right for our children. That includes doing your due diligence with hiring new teachers and staff members. The technology we have is at our fingertips. This should be caught. Social media is a public forum. If this person is saying and posting this publicly, what will he do behind closed doors with our children?”
The board has now fired Martin and said that while they conduct background checks on all teachers, they are not always “flawless.”
“Though extraordinarily rare, there are times that process may not be flawless,” the board said in a statement released by the superintendent. “However, when additional information that is legally relevant to an individual’s ability to work safely and successfully in the district does come to our attention, we take the time to consider that information and then take appropriate action.”
“In this instance, that action included additional background investigation which resulted in the discovery of new information, but relevant to the employment of the individual in question. Based on this new information, the Board and Administration took action today to dismiss the employee,” the board added.