KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A former teacher is suing a Kansas City private school after she was allegedly fired after informing students that political activist Charlie Kirk had been shot.

Amanda Lea, a former art teacher at The Barstow School, is seeking sums in excess of $25,000 for each count of breach of an employment contract and wrongful discharge, according to a lawsuit filed in Jackson County Oct. 16.

Lea began teaching at the school in fall 2021, and was continuously employed through a series of annual “faculty employment agreements,” according to a petition filed in Jackson County. Her last employment agreement was for the 2025-2026 school year.

On Sept. 10, the day Charlie Kirk was killed, Lea was returning from dismissal duty when a student informed her of the incident, the lawsuit says.

Lea went to inform a student, who was participating in an after-school event at the time, that Kirk had died, according to the petition. Other students present at the time thought Kirk “had only been shot and some asked who he was,” so Lea said she told them. The woman then went back to her classroom and retrieved a computer to show students the headline confirming Kirk’s death, the lawsuit alleges.

Lea “did not celebrate or make any derogatory statements” regarding Kirk’s death, according to court documents, a statement which school officials dispute.

The lawsuit claims security footage from The Barstow School shows Lea walking down the hallway “basically expressionless, and certainly not celebrating or making derogatory statements” regarding Kirk’s death.

A few days later, on Sept. 12, Lea was approached at 1:15 p.m. by the director of The Barstow School’s middle school and informed that she needed to report to the chief operating officer’s office, according to the lawsuit. In the meeting, the director of the upper school allegedly started the meeting by asking Lea what she had shown to students on her computer on Sept. 10, according to the lawsuit.

Lea told the director she showed students a headline on CNN relating to Kirk’s death, and answered questions about who Kirk was, the lawsuit alleges.

The school’s chief operating officer told Lea the school had received a complaint from a staff member that “in that person’s opinion,” Lea was “acting in a celebratory manner” regarding Kirk’s death, according to the lawsuit.

The petition states that Lea reiterated she was not “acting in any type of ‘celebratory’ manner,” and returned to her classroom. The same day, Lea was informed she needed to report to the director’s office after class, the petition claims.

During that meeting, Lea was told she could not return to the school the following Monday while the school completed an investigation, according to the lawsuit.

On Sept. 15, the day Lea barred from returning to the school, she received an email from the chief operating officer requesting a Zoom meeting for 2 p.m., according to the lawsuit. In the meeting, the chief operating officer and chief financial officer allegedly told Lea, the lawsuit claims, that “it was all going to be ‘OK’” and she should use the situation as a learning experience.

Lea was given a five-day suspension without pay, according to the lawsuit, and was told to attend a class on “emotional intelligence.”

On Sept. 19, Lea was allegedly asked to join a Zoom call at 2 p.m. with the chief financial officer, according to the lawsuit. In the meeting, Lea alleged she was fired for making “two students ‘unsafe’ in her class because she was ‘celebrating’ Charlie Kirk’s death.”

When Lea asked administrators to explain what “unsafe” meant, her question went unanswered, according to the lawsuit.

The Barstow School’s employee handbook says the school has a “progressive discipline” plan for employees, which begins with a documented verbal warning for a first offense, proceeds to a written warning and finally results in termination depending “upon the severity of the problem,” according to the lawsuit.

Additionally, the school did not give Lea 180 days notice of her firing, as outlined in her employment agreement, according to the lawsuit.

In a 19-page response to Lea’s petition obtained by The Star, The Barstow School alleged Lea wasn’t just answering student questions regarding Kirk’s death, and denies it acted unlawfully or that Lea is entitled to damages.

The rebuttal alleges that when a staff member confronted Lea about the incident, she said, “‘I guess you could say I was celebrating his death’ and that she ‘was being such an a--hole.’”

The school claims Lea told supervisors she would “never do it again,” and understood “why it was such a problem.”

It was after that conversation that Lea asked to write the apology letter, according to the school’s response.

In the letter, obtained by The Star, Lea addresses the note to an unnamed recipient, stating she was “disgusted” with herself, and was “thankful” for the opportunity to apologize.

“I am so sorry for my behavior and for making you feel so upset and or uncomfortable that you needed to speak to administration (it can be a scary thing to speak up, so be proud of advocating for yourself!),” the letter reads. Lea ended the letter by telling the recipient she was “not the person you saw on Wednesday afternoon.”

“If I could go back and redo Wednesday afternoon, I would,” Lea said. “I can’t go back, but I can do the next right thing: apologize.”

Additionally, the school denies Lea’s allegations that its chief financial officer was involved in any meetings with Lea, and that the woman inaccurately described the school’s employee handbook.

The school’s rebuttal alleges that Lea’s description of the handbook also makes “clear that in some situations, it will determine that an employee’s conduct warrants termination of employment without progressive discipline.”

Ultimately, the school said, the decision to fire Lea came from a “further investigation into the matter, including a review of video footage and statements received from faculty, staff, and others who were concerned” with Lea’s conduct.

The school denies telling Lea disciplinary actions would be a written warning, according to the response. Administrators allegedly told Lea that if she continued to be employed by the school, it would be under a “last chance agreement.”

While a five-day suspension and attendance to an emotional intelligence class were discussed, the school alleges “no final decisions” were communicated to Lea regarding those actions, according to the response.

The school also alleges they never told the woman everything would be “OK,” according to the rebuttal. Instead, the school claims Lea began to cry in the meeting, to which another employee attempted to calm her by saying, “It’s OK.”

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