Firing of Fort Worth teacher who tweeted Trump about ‘illegal students’ upheld by court

A Texas appeals court Tuesday upheld the Fort Worth school board’s decision to fire a teacher after she asked President Donald Trump on Twitter to crack down on immigration at Carter-Riverside High School.

In June 2019, Superintendent Kent P. Scribner recommended Georgia Clark be terminated for using racially insensitive language and abusing social media. The school board unanimously agreed and she was placed on leave. Clark’s contract was officially terminated in September 2019.

Clark appealed appealed her termination. On Nov. 25, 2019, Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath ruled she was entitled to get her job back, along with back pay and employment benefits from the time her contract was not renewed. The next day, the school board announced it would appeal that decision.

On Tuesday, the 250th District Court of Travis County upheld the board’s decision to fire Clark.

“The District is pleased that Judge Catherine A. Mauzy recognized the importance of the Board’s ability to make employment decisions in the best interests of its students and school community,” the district said in a press release.

Clark can appeal the decision with the 3rd Court of Appeals in Austin within 30 days.

In 2019, Clark sent several tweets asking Trump to crack down on immigration at the high school where she taught. One tweet asked the president to help remove “illegals from Fort Worth.”

“Mr. President, Fort Worth Independent School District is loaded with illegal students from Mexico,” one of the posts linked to her account stated. “Carter-Riverside High School has been taken over by them.”

The Twitter account the tweets were sent from, @Rebecca1939, has been deleted.

Clark told a district investigator she thought the messages were private direct messages to Trump, not public posts.