MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 Matthew Theobald\u2019s future could soon be in the hands of an administrative law judge.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, school board members voted 3-2, to allow an administrative hearing for Theobald, meaning a third party would take the case.<\/p>\n
WATCH WPTV’S COVERAGE BELOW:<\/p>\n
Martin County teacher’s case heads to administrative hearing after school board vote<\/p>\n
Theobald, a teacher and president of the Martin County teachers union, was suspended without pay after calling Charlie Kirk a \u201cracist, misogynistic, fear-mongering neo-nazi\u201d on Facebook.<\/p>\n
\u201cMatt is not just a teacher; he goes above and beyond when anyone is in need,\u201d said his wife, Kaylin Rowell. \u201cYou all should be ashamed of yourselves. I also do not need to tell you that these actions are also highly unconstitutional.\u201d<\/p>\n
While dozens of supporters attended the meeting, others also called for his termination.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are free to say what you want,\u201d said Elizabeth Cain. \u201cYou\u2019re not free to call people racist, misogynists.\u201d<\/p>\n
Theobald\u2019s attorney, Martin Powell, spoke with WPTV after the school district\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was a safe space for him because those are conversations he has with his family and friends,\u201d said Powell. \u201cIt\u2019s what makes America great, the exchange of ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n
Weeks after Theobald\u2019s suspension, Powell filed a request, asking for a fair hearing through the state.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re surprised but excited about the results,\u201d said Powell. \u201cI think we\u2019ll get a third party to actually evaluate the facts and evaluate the case.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the letter, Theobald\u2019s attorney calls for the district to reverse his suspension, termination recommendation, and provide back pay. Powell said this will assure a fair trial.<\/p>\n
\u201cInstead of having the political body that is the school board be the ultimate arbitrator, judge, ‘an executioner’, or as they say, I\u2019m excited about having a third-party review it,\u201d said Powell.<\/p>\n
The hearing should be held within 60 days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 Matthew Theobald\u2019s future could soon be in the hands of an administrative law judge.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15385,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[28,1160,171,173,172,179,12758],"class_list":{"0":"post-15384","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-port-st-lucie","8":"tag-florida","9":"tag-martin-county","10":"tag-port-st-lucie","11":"tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","12":"tag-port-st-lucie-news","13":"tag-treasure-coast","14":"tag-wptv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}