A Franklin High School teacher is suing Williamson County Schools, alleging that the district infringed on her private political speech as an act of retaliation after she made online comments critical of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk following his Sept. 10 killing.
Emily Orbison serves as an FHS science teacher. She previously taught in the Metro Nashville Public Schools system from 2021-24, before working at FHS starting in the fall of 2024.
Screenshot of Instagram story
The lawsuit centers on a private Sept. 10 Instagram story post made by Orbison in which she criticized Kirk’s statements following the 2023 shooting at Nashville’s The Covenant School. The post quoted Kirk, saying, “I think it's worth it 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. That is a prudent deal. It is rational.”
Orbison’s post points out the challenges faced by students, teachers and parents in an era of normalized gun violence, and referred to Kirk as a “pos [piece of shit],” noting his other publicly stated views on women, with Kirk having long railed against feminism and women’s reproductive rights.
“Guess there wasn’t a good guy with a gun there. Shame. Don’t mourn his death. It’s just the price of doing business. Completely rational,” Orbison wrote in part.
Orbison’s post came to light publicly following an article from the conservative outlet The Federalist.
Orbison was subsequently suspended without pay pending the results of a WCS investigation, a suspension that continues at the time of publication for this story.
According to the complaint, during a Sept. 16 “investigative interview,” Orbison said that her post was “intended to satirize and criticize Kirk’s view that shootings are a ‘rational’ and ‘prudent’ cost that are ‘worth it’ for having the Second Amendment.”
A Tennessee Education Association attorney who represented Orbison in the interview also argued that the post would never have been available to the public if it had not been sent to The Federalist by someone connected to one of her some 400 followers, none of whom were WCS board members or employees.
That attorney also alleged that several board members violated WCS policies by publicly commenting on Orbison’s then ongoing internal investigation, and the lawsuit highlights two petitions, one of which was signed by students asking for Orbison to be reinstated at FHS.
The lawsuit also mentions other social media posts made by elected officials, including from WCS Board Member Claire Reeves, who called the post “deeply troubling,” and her husband, District 65 state Rep. Lee Reeves (R-Franklin), who said that “There’s no place in our schools for radical leftist teachers who celebrate murder,” as well as Sen. Marsha Blackburn, who called the post “vile.”
A Sept. 15 WCS School Board meeting saw public comments addressing Orbison’s post, including from former state Rep. Brandon Ogles, who alleged that Orbison’s post “condoned violent and predatory behavior.”
During that meeting, Golden confirmed that Oribison had, at that point, been suspended without pay in what he called an “appropriate first step.”
“We do evaluate the act, we look at the impact on the school system, and we compare what the investigation reveals that that employee did to the standards in the code, and that includes the teacher code of conduct and that also includes the standards for discipline of a teacher,” Golden said. “That includes incompetence, inefficiency, neglect of duty, unprofessional conduct and insubordination.”
Orbison has a 5-year-old daughter who attends a WCS elementary school, and according to the complaint, part of Orbison’s suspension included a provision that she would not have contact with any WCS teacher, staff or students, meaning that she couldn’t communicate with her daughter’s teacher or take part in any pre-scheduled parental events with her daughter’s school.
Orbison argues that WCS retaliated against her for her private political speech and violated her 14th Amendment parental rights as well as her rights under the Tennessee Parental Rights Statute.
She is asking for a jury trial and relief to include “nominal, compensatory, and punitive damages against Defendants,” as well as reimbursement for court and legal fees.
Similarly, a former Rutherford County teacher is also suing, alleging a wrongful termination over her comments about Kirk, in a pattern of firings of people expressing their views across the country, including some staff members at Middle Tennessee State University, Austin Peay State University and Cumberland University.
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