Pueblo County School District 70 has reinstated a substitute teacher after suspending him indefinitely in September over a Facebook post he made about the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
District officials placed Chris Sutton on what’s called “inactive” status on Sept. 16 after receiving complaints about a social media post he made — a move that barred him from teaching for at least the remainder of the 2025-26 academic year, according to a news release from Sutton’s Denver-based attorney, David Lane.
The district reinstated Sutton on Dec. 5 after his attorneys sent a letter to administrators threatening a lawsuit and alleging administrators violated the educator’s First Amendment right to free speech.
“This is a really important case,” said attorney Maddie Schaefer of Killmer Lane LLP, who represents Sutton, in an interview. “People need to know their First Amendment rights cannot be violated in this way.”
District Superintendent Rhonda Rein could not immediately be reached for comment.
But in a Dec. 5 letter that Rein sent Sutton regarding his reinstatement, she wrote, “The District wishes to reiterate that the initial action of placing your substitute eligibility status on inactive status was neither arbitrary nor capricious.”
“That decision was made based on a valid and documented concern that your past behaviors and activities, particularly those conducted on social media, created substantial and credible disruption to the educational environment and required the expenditure of significant administrative resources,” Rein wrote.
Sutton’s suspension came as educators at universities and K-12 schools nationwide faced backlash — from investigations to terminations — for criticizing Kirk in the wake of his death.
On Sept. 14, Sutton wrote a Facebook post referencing the death of Kirk, who had been shot days earlier while speaking on a college campus in Utah.
“Pretending that everyone deserves to be mourned is dumb as (expletive),” Sutton wrote. “Sometimes, the world becomes a better place. If I find relief in the passing of my own relative, then why in the (expletive) would I need to grieve a propagandist that worked to make the world more dangerous?”
Republican National Committee member Christy Fidura shared a screenshot of Sutton’s post in a Facebook group called “Pueblo County Patriots” and encouraged members to contact the district’s superintendent, according to a letter sent by Sutton’s attorneys to district officials.
Fidura declined to comment for this story.
Eight people complained to district officials regarding Sutton’s Facebook post before he was placed on “inactive” status pending an investigation by the Board of Education, according to the letter.
Two of the people who complained were local politicians who threatened not to support a mill levy override to increase funding for the Pueblo school district, according to Sutton’s attorneys.
Sutton, a disabled veteran, had several teaching jobs in October that he was unable to work because district officials suspended him, according to the letter.
Sutton might still pursue a lawsuit against the Pueblo County School District despite his reinstatement, Schaefer said.
“There’s further accountability that needs to be had for these actions against Mr. Sutton,” she said. “…The harm that was done to his constitutional rights — his ability to speak freely — that harm sends a message to other people in the district, other employees, that if they choose to speak freely about issues of national public concern that the district disagrees with, they might also suffer these types of consequences.”
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