Two Propel charter school employees who posted on social media celebrating a news report from Iranian state media detailing Tehran’s promise to kill President Donald Trump, which said, “This time it will not miss the target,” lost their jobs this weekend.
The employees’ video, which appears to have been recorded in a classroom at a Pittsburgh-based charter school, shows them smiling at the report before giggling and crossing their fingers, suggesting they hope Iran will not miss its target.
After the media video was first posted, the charter school placed the employees on leave. By Sunday, Propel issued a statement saying their behavior violated school policies.
“Following a formal review process conducted in accordance with our policies and applicable labor agreements, the individuals involved are no longer employed by Propel Schools,” the statement said.
Propel charter schools were founded 22 years ago in the basement of an old homestead hospital. Since then, the network has grown to serve more than 4,000 students across a dozen school districts in Pennsylvania.
This incident comes 18 months after Trump was shot and injured in western Pennsylvania at the Butler County Farm Show complex and four months after Charlie Kirk was fatally shot on a college campus in Utah. After both events, teachers nationwide faced disciplinary action for controversial social media posts either lamenting the assassination attempt for being unsuccessful or celebrating Kirk’s death.
In July 2024, days after Trump was shot, Cassandra Olson, a Sioux Falls School District middle school behavior specialist, wrote, “Shoot—if only he would’ve had his scope sighted correctly” on Facebook. The South Dakota school district acted swiftly, saying in a statement that the staff member “was no longer employed” at the school.
Olson was one of several educators who either lost their jobs or had their teaching licenses pulled for wishing or celebrating harm on Trump.
The volume of educators posting on social media to celebrate the shooting or express regret that Trump survived was unprecedented. It was not surpassed until the death of Kirk, the founder and executive director of Turning Point USA, a conservative organization known for hosting open debates with young people. Kirk’s assassination also prompted celebratory posts from educators online.
Education Week reported that teachers in California, Florida, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Texas were either fired or placed on leave ahead of investigations into social media comments celebrating or slyly implying their approval of Kirk’s death.
What makes the incident at Propel this past week especially troubling is that it is likely not the last of its kind. It has left many parents asking what sort of influence, or even rhetoric, teachers may be bringing into the classroom, not only in public schools but also in charter and private schools.
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Parents are responding accordingly, pulling their children out of traditional public education. In Pennsylvania, the number of homeschooled students rose from just over 25,000 to 43,000 in the 2023-2024 school year. Nationally, homeschoolers now make up about 6% of K–12 students, roughly on par with charter schools (7%) and not far behind private schools (9%).
When people ask why more parents are turning to homeschooling, the answer is obvious. It is not just poor academic proficiency in public schools, but also the culture among some teachers. What educators have posted makes that clear.