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Teacher Suspended Over Assassination Remarks
Patrick Meyer was placed on leave after posting controversial comments referencing presidential assassinations, drawing criticism from officials including Tony Wied.
Post from U.S. Rep. Tony Wied's Facebook page showing a screen shot of a post on X made by a Kaukauna High School teacher in reaction to the April 25, 2026, shooting at the White House Correspondents Dinner
A Wisconsin teacher with over two decades in the classroom posted something on social media that got him removed from it almost immediately.
Patrick Meyer, a social studies teacher at Kaukauna High School, wrote that he was "not impressed with recent presidential assassins." He named them. John Wilkes Booth. Charles Guiteau. Leon Czolgosz. Lee Harvey Oswald.
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The post appeared to parody the Make America Great Again slogan associated with Donald Trump and suggested those historical figures would be "spinning in their graves."
By the time the Kaukauna Area School District responded, the post had already been deleted. Meyer had not.
The district confirmed Monday that Meyer had been placed on administrative leave pending a review. He has taught social studies there for more than twenty years.
Officials were careful with their language. They stated the post was unrelated to school activities and that there was no evidence of any threat to student safety. But they also made clear they reject any expression that could be seen as promoting or endorsing violence.
That line is doing a lot of work in this situation.
Wisconsin Republican lawmaker Tony Wied did not wait for a review to share his position. He condemned the remarks directly, calling them inappropriate and saying they do not reflect the values of the community or the standard expected from educators.
If you have followed this far, here is where this gets more complicated than one deleted post.
Meyer is a social studies teacher. The figures he named are part of the curriculum in American history classrooms across the country. The question investigators and school officials now have to answer is whether the context of that post crossed a line from commentary into something that cannot be defended.
The district has not said what comes next. The review is ongoing. Meyer has not made a public statement.
What he wrote is gone. What happens to his career because of it is still being decided.
Editor's Note: The incident has sparked broader concern over the role of educators in shaping public discourse, as authorities review the conduct of Patrick Meyer following remarks widely criticized for appearing to reference violence.
