Pueblo County College District 70 has reinstated a substitute instructor after suspending him indefinitely in September over a Fb put up he made concerning the homicide of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
District officers positioned Chris Sutton on what’s referred to as “inactive” standing on Sept. 16 after receiving complaints a few social media put up he made — a transfer that barred him from instructing for not less than the rest of the 2025-26 tutorial 12 months, in line with a information launch from Sutton’s Denver-based lawyer, David Lane.
The district reinstated Sutton on Dec. 5 after his attorneys despatched a letter to directors threatening a lawsuit and alleging directors violated the educator’s First Modification proper to free speech.
“It is a actually necessary case,” stated lawyer Maddie Schaefer of Killmer Lane LLP, who represents Sutton, in an interview. “Individuals have to know their First Modification rights can’t be violated on this manner.”
District Superintendent Rhonda Rein couldn’t instantly be reached for remark.
However in a Dec. 5 letter that Rein despatched Sutton concerning his reinstatement, she wrote, “The District needs to reiterate that the preliminary motion of inserting your substitute eligibility standing on inactive standing was neither arbitrary nor capricious.”
“That call was made primarily based on a legitimate and documented concern that your previous behaviors and actions, significantly these carried out on social media, created substantial and credible disruption to the academic setting and required the expenditure of serious administrative assets,” Rein wrote.
Sutton’s suspension got here as educators at universities and Ok-12 faculties nationwide confronted backlash — from investigations to terminations — for criticizing Kirk within the wake of his dying.
On Sept. 14, Sutton wrote a Fb put up referencing the dying of Kirk, who had been shot days earlier whereas talking on a school campus in Utah.
“Pretending that everybody deserves to be mourned is dumb as (expletive),” Sutton wrote. “Typically, the world turns into a greater place. If I discover aid within the passing of my very own relative, then why within the (expletive) would I have to grieve a propagandist that labored to make the world extra harmful?”
Republican Nationwide Committee member Christy Fidura shared a screenshot of Sutton’s put up in a Fb group referred to as “Pueblo County Patriots” and inspired members to contact the district’s superintendent, in line with a letter despatched by Sutton’s attorneys to district officers.
Fidura declined to remark for this story.
Eight folks complained to district officers concerning Sutton’s Fb put up earlier than he was positioned on “inactive” standing pending an investigation by the Board of Schooling, in line with the letter.
Two of the individuals who complained had been native politicians who threatened to not assist a mill levy override to extend funding for the Pueblo college district, in line with Sutton’s attorneys.
Sutton, a disabled veteran, had a number of instructing jobs in October that he was unable to work as a result of district officers suspended him, in line with the letter.
Sutton may nonetheless pursue a lawsuit towards the Pueblo County College District regardless of his reinstatement, Schaefer stated.
“There’s additional accountability that must be had for these actions towards Mr. Sutton,” she stated. “…The hurt that was carried out to his constitutional rights — his capability to talk freely — that hurt sends a message to different folks within the district, different workers, that in the event that they select to talk freely about problems with nationwide public concern that the district disagrees with, they could additionally undergo a majority of these penalties.”
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