Ex-Kansas employee ousted over Charlie Kirk comment sues education department
The Manhattan woman who lost her job with the Kansas State Department of Education over a two-word Facebook comment she made about Charlie Kirk’s assassination is suing the agency and Education Commissioner Randy Watson, who she says forced her to resign against her will.
Katie Allen filed a federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kansas, on Wednesday, accusing Watson and his agency of “bowing to the vigilante clamoring” by terminating her employment over a comment in which she characterized the conservative activist’s death as “well deserved.”
In the 12-page complaint, Allen asks the court to restore her position as a research analyst with back pay and to issue a declaratory judgment condemning her ouster from the state agency as a violation of her free speech protections.
“A reasonable person who was the head of a public agency would have known, or should have known that private speech by public employees on matters of public concern is protected by the First Amendment,” according to the complaint.
“In response to demands by members of the public and by certain elected officials that Plaintiff resign or be terminated from her employment, Defendant Randy Watson terminated Plaintiff by demanding her resignation and refusing to consider any alternative.”
Watson did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday. KSDE spokesperson Denise Kahler said the agency does not comment on personnel issues.
Kahler previously declined to provide details about Allen’s separation from the agency, where she began working in 2025.
“I can confirm that Katie Allen is no longer an employee at KSDE. We won’t be providing any additional comment,” Kahler said in a Sept. 16 email to The Star.
‘An emotional moment’
Allen issued a public apology for the comment on Sept. 10, the same day a gunman shot Kirk in the neck during a Turning Point USA event on the campus of Utah Valley University
“After Ms. Allen left work on September 10, as she was walking to her car, she saw a post on Facebook describing a quote by Charlie Kirk, to the effect that some level of gun violence was inevitable in a society in which numerous citizens owned firearms, and that losses from gun violence were a reasonable price to pay for the Second Amendment right to bear arms,” the lawsuit says.
“Ms. Allen posted a comment on that post, saying, ‘well deserved.’ By the time she reached her car, however, she thought better of her comment, and she deleted it. Her comment remained posted for approximately five to ten minutes.”
In the apology that followed, Allen, also an elected member of the Manhattan-Ogden school board, said she made the post “in an emotional moment.”
“I looked back at the post when I got to my car,” and “quickly realized I didn’t intend the meaning of the two words I wrote,” Allen said.
But the damage was done. According to the lawsuit, Allen’s home address was posted online and she received numerous threatening phone calls after screenshots of her Facebook comment were circulated widely.
“Many of the phone calls she received were from persons who were angry with her, including one from an FBI agent in Kansas City, and one from a law enforcement officer in Minnesota,” the lawsuit says. “Some calls contained actual or veiled threats. One email to her was titled, ‘resign or die,’ and the writer promised to ‘blow your f*****g brains out if you don’t resign.’”
A spokesperson for the FBI’s Kansas City field office declined to say whether an agent contacted Allen.
“It’s DOJ policy to neither confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation. As far as the lawsuit, I cannot comment on any pending litigation,” spokesperson Dixon land said in an email.
According to the lawsuit, Allen became increasingly anxious as the hostile messages continued to roll in.
“On September 11, after learning of a website called FindCharliesMurderers and learning that the President of the United States had called for the punishment of persons who commented negatively on Charlie Kirk, Ms. Allen had a panic attack,” the lawsuit says.
“That evening, she sent an email to her employer suggesting she would resign. Contrary to the email, however, she continued in her role.”
‘Thousands of letters’
According to the lawsuit, Allen met with Watson on the morning of Sept. 15 and apologized for her comment.
“Mr. Watson told Ms. Allen he had received thousands of letters of complaint, and he had verified that they were all from Kansans. He also said his phone was ringing nonstop, and that he had to do something, and do something quickly,” the lawsuit says.
Among the loudest voices calling for Allen to lose her job were Senate President Ty Masterson and former Gov. Jeff Colyer — both of whom are running in the GOP primary for governor next year — and Riley County state Sen. Brad Starnes.
Allen again spoke with Watson on the afternoon of Sept. 15, the lawsuit claims, this time in a phone conversation that included a human resources representative.
“Mr. Watson said he wanted Ms. Allen to resign,” reads the complaint. “In response, she proposed a 30-day suspension. Mr. Watson denied that option and again pressured her to resign. Ms. Allen stated that she would not resign, and Mr. Watson responded that she would need to be separated.”
The next day, Allen alleges, the HR department sent her an email “characterizing her separation as a resignation.”
First Amendment protections
The lawsuit says a clear precedent protects public employees who make controversial statements on matters of public concern.
It cites the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1987 ruling in Rankin v. McPherson, a case involving a public employee who commented on the assassination attempt on then-President Ronald Reagan, saying, “if they go for him again, I hope they get him.”
“The Supreme Court held that the public employer’s interest in discharging the employee did not outweigh the free speech rights of the employee,” the lawsuit says.
Allen claims a 30-day suspension would have been a more reasonable punishment.
That’s how long Watson was suspended in 2022 after publicly apologizing for an anecdote he shared at an online education conference about growing up in Kansas and telling people visiting the state that they should be more afraid of American Indians than violent tornadoes.
Watson, who has served as education commissioner since 2014, announced on Sept. 10 that he plans to retire from the role. He said he will continue to serve until the state school board names his successor.
The Manhattan-area school board that Allen serves on passed a motion 5-1 last week calling for her to resign. The embattled official has declined to do so, although she agreed to step down as vice president of the board, The Mercury reported.
“In reflecting on everything that’s happened this past week, I’ve thought a lot and read a lot about what it means to be a leader,” Allen said during the meeting. “What came up often were these qualities — honesty, effective communication, decisiveness, compassion and self awareness. Perfection wasn’t on any of these lists.”
This story was originally published September 25, 2025 at 12:04 PM with the headline "Ex-Kansas employee ousted over Charlie Kirk comment sues education department."
