The Crystal Lake District 47 school board declined to censure board member Lea Grover over recent social media posts, including ones made after Charlie Kirk’s death.

In front of a large crowd from the public Monday evening – both for and against Grover – school board attorney Darcy Kriha shared that the board and district have received calls asking for Grover’s resignation or to remove Grover from the board.

Grover made a couple of posts in the wake of the shooting death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk last week that angered some residents of the Crystal Lake district.

One of those posts said, “I choose to honor Charlie Kirk’s memory as he wished, and in that way I can pay my respects” and included images of comments he’d made on gun violence and empathy that have circulated widely online since Kirk was shot and killed during an appearance in Utah.

At the meeting, before the public’s comments, Grover read a prepared statement.

In her roughly 10-minute speech, Grover didn’t apologize for anything she’d posted but said she’s “not here to push an ideology, and I believe that my tenure will ultimately reflect that truth.”

Grover was elected to the board in the spring and has a background as a writer, speaker, activist and former mommy blogger, according to LinkedIn; on one of her Facebook pages she calls herself a “vigilante educator.”

Grover said the content she puts on social media hasn’t changed, but she acknowledged that she has a broader audience now that she’s on the school board and said she would be more aware of that going forward.

As someone in the Chicago-area blogging world, she said she had some “professional history” with Kirk. She said she felt “compelled to comment on his murder, not to mock and belittle” as she said he had done after her sister died of COVID-19, but to nod to complex feelings she had about Kirk’s death.

She said she disagreed with much of what Kirk had to say but that they did have common ground, citing the idea that “nobody should be protected after sexually exploiting children.”

She said she felt for Kirk’s wife, noting that, like Erika Kirk, she was widowed in her 30s. Grover said she grieved for his children and everyone who knew him, adding she wanted his widow to have the same support she had when her husband died.

She apologized for the disruption her work had caused the board.

Following her comments, other board members spoke, including Emily Smith, who said the tone of Grover’s posts was “polarizing” and it had caused a distraction.

“Everything that’s happening tonight is a result of the words that you said” and the tone of the posts, Smith said. She added if the board didn’t act, would it signal it’s OK for students to use that tone speaking with each other, teachers to use it speaking to students bullying a child or parents speaking to staff.

“I was very disappointed in how you represented yourself to the community the last week,” Smith said. Her comments got some applause from the crowd.

Board President Debra Barton said as a retired school administrator, the rule of thumb was even though you can post on social media, you shouldn’t, “because the community holds you to a different standard.”

Board member Maria Krause noted Grover acknowledged having a much broader audience now that she’s on the school board, and said from that angle, “I feel like we’re making progress here.”

Krause said she was glad to have the discussion and that the country needs to come together.

Nearly a dozen members of the public weighed in, and some who against Grover and some who were supportive. The Monday evening was standing-room-only and divided.

Former board member Courtney Hand said she thought the board maintained respectful relationships with each other despite differing opinions.

“As board members, we abstained from involving ourselves in controversial online activity so as not to compromise the board or administration. We took seriously the fact that as elected officials, we were always wearing the board hat,” Hand said.

Annette Rafferty said she taught in the district for 28 years and has a lot of love for the district. She said she was bothered when the issue arose.

She said it’s OK to disagree and that’s what debate is about and there was a lot of debating, “even in science class,” Rafferty said.

“People have a right to speak with what they think. They have a right to say it in this country. We aren’t living in Russia. We’re here,” Rafferty said, adding she supported Grover, her feelings and her blog.

Other commenters felt Grover’s posts were inappropriate and didn’t model good behavior for the children.

Kriha, the school board attorney, said Barton contacted her Friday about Grover’s social media posts, and that Kriha advised the board secretary to put a discussion item about the posts on the agenda, as well as a censure item, in case the board wanted to pursue that.

Kriha said she believed the district had fielded fewer than 10 phone calls on the topic and all were from those who felt Grover’s posts were not appropriate.

The school board voted 5-1-1, with Grover abstaining, on a motion to drop the censure item from the agenda. Smith voted against dropping the censure and said right before it while it might not be disruptive in the classroom, it was disrupting the board’s work, noting it was nearly an hour and a half into the meeting.

“It’s ridiculous,” Smith said.

After the meeting, Grover said a lack of media literacy was a large part of what happened Monday but referred back to her statement.

The following day, Grover posted a message on her District 47 election Facebook page: “I’m grateful for the support of the community last night. I’m grateful to the board for upholding my first amendment rights. These challenges are not unique to [Algonquin-based Community School District 300], or D47. I urge school boards all over the country facing pressure to silence the voices of people who disagree with the ruling political party to stand strong for our freedom of expression.

“We teach our children our values with our actions, and if we support the American constitution, we support the right to free speech regardless of whether or not we agree with it,” Grover wrote.

In neighboring District 300, school board president Nancy Zettler is facing backlash about a post she had made regarding Kirk’s death.