MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) — A state administrative law judge has issued a highly anticipated ruling regarding the future of suspended Martin County teacher and union president Matthew Theobald, focusing heavily on whether his controversial social media posts disrupted the local school system.
Judge Jodi-Anne Livingstone recommends that the Martin County School District reinstate Theobald while giving him back pay and benefits. Livingstone wrote in her findings that Theobald did not commit a “serious offense” that warranted the school district to suspend and fire him.
Theobald spoke exclusively with CBS12 News about the ruling.
“I’ve felt a lot of support from the community. My friends and neighbors, people that I’ve grown up with who know me… They knew that what the board was trying to do was unfair, and there’s no way for me to really describe how amazing that feels,” said Theobald.
According to Livingstone, the posts’ text did not explicitly target local students or specific campus chapters. However, Livingstone weighed whether the highly charged nature of the language compromised the required professional standards for public educators.
The recommendation follows an administrative hearing held to determine if the veteran Spectrum Academy educator should be permanently terminated from his position. Theobald was removed from classroom duties and suspended after a Facebook post surfaced in which he described conservative political activist Charlie Kirk as a “racist, misogynistic, fear-mongering neo-Nazi”. In the official findings, Livingstone evaluated the direct impact of the educator’s online speech on the community and the school district.
Throughout the administrative proceedings, the Martin County School District aggressively pursued termination. School district officials, represented by Anthony Gonzalez, argued that Theobald’s online statements directly affected school operations and compromised his ability to teach students fairly.
The district maintained that the comments raised serious concerns about whether students with differing political beliefs would be treated fairly in his classroom, especially since organizations connected to the post maintain active student chapters within the local school system.
“Mr. Theobald, who posted the comments on social media, created a disruption, created an issue for himself and the district,” said Superintendent Michael Maine during the administrative hearing.
Theobald and his legal team pushed back strictly on First Amendment grounds, countering that the comments were protected free speech. They argued that the posts were made in a private setting, did not impact the classroom, and did not target local students.
“It’s about standing up for what you believe in and making sure that what happened to me doesn’t happen to other teachers,” Theobald said.
Following his initial suspension, dozens of local residents and former students spoke out in support of Theobald at school board meetings, calling him a phenomenal educator and advocating for his immediate reinstatement.
Following the review and findings, the final statutory authority to reinstate or officially terminate Theobald will ultimately rest on a final vote by the Martin County School Board.
The school district declined our request for comment, but did confirm they received the recommendation.