Iowa Capital Dispatch
January 13, 2026
The Iowa Board of Educational Examiners is now being sued for soliciting complaints about teachers who made negative public comments about Charlie Kirk in the wake of the conservative activist’s death last fall.
Teachers Katherine Mejia of Manchester and Jennifer Smith of Johnston are suing the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners and its executive director, Michael Cavin, in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa.
The lawsuit challenges Cavin’s written solicitation of professional licensing complaints related to the shooting death of Kirk in September 2025. That solicitation, the teachers argue, resulted in complaints of unethical conduct filed against them by their employers. The lawsuit alleges the actions of Cavin and the board have violated the teachers’ First Amendment right to comment on matters of public concern.
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.
SUBSCRIBE
Several other lawsuits have been filed by Iowa educators, a public defender and a paramedic, all of whom allege they were fired or sanctioned for online comments posted in the immediate aftermath of Kirk’s death. Those lawsuits have focused on the actions of the employers, while Mejia’s and Smith’s lawsuit targets the state licensing board and its executive director.
Mejia’s post: Kirk was not a hero or martyr
Mejia is a counselor for the West Delaware Community School District near Manchester, and Smith is a high school family and consumer sciences teacher for the Johnston Community School District.
The lawsuit alleges that on Sept. 10, 2025, while Mejia was on district-approved leave, she used her own personal device to repost another individual’s Facebook post concerning human trafficker and child-sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and President Donald Trump. The post indicated that anyone who still supported Trump was either a pedophile or was “OK with it happening.”
The lawsuit indicates Mejia also “made another post” concerning Kirk that stated, “Let’s make one thing clear from the start: Charlie Kirk was the victim of a shooting in a country where he, along with other right-wing extremist influencers, have been inciting violence for years. KIRK IS NEITHER A MARTYR NOR A HERO. HE IS A CAUSE!”
According to the lawsuit, one person complained to the West Delaware Community School District about the Epstein-Trump post and, the next day, one person complained about the Kirk-related post.
Superintendent Jen Vance told Mejia that the second complainant intended to call U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley’s office to complain about the Kirk-related post, according to the lawsuit. On Sept. 16, 2025, Vance issued a letter of reprimand to Mejia, claiming Mejia had made the post during work hours and asserting that Mejia should “exercise professional discretion when engaging in any online activity.”
Three days after Vance resolved the matter with a reprimand, the lawsuit claims, Vance and other superintendents around Iowa received a letter from Cavin, on board letterhead, referencing educators’ “comments regarding the assassination of Charlie Kirk” and stating that “administrators are encouraged to file a complaint with the board.” Cavin’s letter then went on to specify the precise regulatory violations to be cited in such a complaint.
Because of Cavin’s letter, the lawsuit claims, Vance submitted a complaint to the board concerning Mejia’s online posts.
Smith’s post: Kirk was a ‘monster’ who spread hate
The lawsuit alleges that on Sept. 11, 2025, Smith was at home, after work, when she posted a message to Facebook using her personal device. The post was about comments that Kirk had made prior to his death, and stated: “Words below are from the one that suddenly died due to gun violence. That one death flies our flags at half-staff, and yet time and again children and school staff (who) are constantly dying just because they were doing their jobs for the betterment of society are not honored nor barely remembered. There was a school shooting on this same day. Did you know that?”
Attached to Smith’s post was an image with the words: “We remember the things he said about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: ‘MLK was awful. He’s not a good person.’ We remember his calculation on gun violence: ‘I think it’s worth … some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights. That is a prudent deal. It is rational.’ These are not the words of healing, not the words of unity. And yet they, too, are part of the ledger he leaves behind.”
According to the lawsuit, Smith also wrote on Facebook: “RIP you monster. I’m so sure your god is fine with the awful spread of hate you completed while here on earth.”
The following day, the lawsuit alleges, Smith’s associate principal called her out of class to discuss the post, saying that there had been “a couple of calls” to the district about it. Later that day, a human resources employee called Smith at home to report that a school board member had been called about the post, adding that Smith should take down the post if she did not want her next workday interrupted. Smith then deleted the post, the lawsuit claims.
No further action was taken in the matter, the lawsuit alleges, until after Cavin’s letter was sent out, after which Superintendent Nikki Roorda called Smith to her office and stated that the board had put out a directive about posts concerning Charlie Kirk.
Roorda then filed a complaint with the board about Smith’s post, court records show.
Reynolds demands firings, objects to ‘shutting down free speech’
The lawsuit notes that members of the Board of Educational Examiners are appointees of Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds and that the director of the Iowa Department of Education, McKenzie Snow, is a former Trump administration official appointed by Reynolds. Cavin, in turn, was appointed by Snow, the lawsuit notes.
In the aftermath of Kirk’s killing, Reynolds publicly stated that “anybody that celebrates the execution of a human being, it’s disgusting and unconscionable and it’s just not acceptable. Political violence should never be accepted, period. Period. End of story. And if we have discovered through the investigation that (school employees) did, in fact, celebrate taking another human life — you know, shutting down free speech — then they should, they should be fired. And we’ll wait and see what happens, but they should be fired. It has a chilling effect on those that don’t — you know, it says, ‘If you don’t agree with what I agree on, then you’re going to be silenced.’ So it’s unacceptable, just unacceptable.”
In addition, Republican Sen. Lynn Evans and Rep. Taylor Collins sent a letter to the Iowa Board of Regents urging the termination of any employees who made public comments celebrating the death of Kirk.
Another Republican, House Speaker Pat Grassley, stated that public school teachers who commented on Kirk’s death should be fired, adding that “individuals with this depravity cannot continue to hold a position with any level of influence over our children… If appropriate action is not taken, you can trust that the Iowa House Government Oversight Committee will address this issue and take action to root out this hate from our schools.”
Lawsuit: Online comments are protected ‘political speech’
“Mejia’s and Smith’s Facebook comments are classic, protected, personal and political speech,” the lawsuit asserts. It claims Cavin’s letter represents “viewpoint discrimination” against those who don’t share Kirk’s political views and that it “threatened public school administrators, who are also licensed by the BOEE, for failure to engage in viewpoint discrimination against other licensed educators who had views adverse to Charlie Kirk.”
The lawsuit alleges Cavin asserts he has the authority to discipline a licensee unilaterally, without a hearing, and can revoke any license issued by the board. Mejia and Smith take issue with that interpretation of Cavin’s authority, but add that Cavin’s views on the matter have put them “at risk of licensure discipline or revocation without due process.”
The lawsuit seeks a temporary restraining order preventing the board and Cavin from taking any further action in their cases, as well as an injunction restraining Cavin and the board from discriminating against, or retaliating against, Mejia and Smith.
The lawsuit also seeks an award of punitive damages against Cavin “for his reckless disregard, if not intentional indifference, to Mejia’s and Smith’s First Amendment rights.”
Cavin and the board have yet to file a response to the lawsuit. The Iowa Attorney General’s Office, which defends the state in such cases, has said it does not comment on pending litigation.
YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.
SUPPORT
Iowa Capital Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions: info@iowacapitaldispatch.com.
