Laura Mara #

Introduction #

Laura Mara is a Long Island music teacher who lost her job with the Westhampton Beach School District after posting a TikTok about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk — a video she framed as being about how people respond to tragedy, and which parents called inappropriate for an educator. She was let go that fall, and in April 2026 she sued the district and its superintendent, claiming her First Amendment rights were violated and seeking $5 million in damages. She appears to be the first person on Long Island to lose a job over a reaction to Kirk’s killing.

Background Information #

Mara was a choir and music teacher in the Westhampton Beach school district; her lawsuit notes she was hired in 2024. The Clear Lake, Wisconsin, native had previously taught general music and chorus at Thomas J. Lahey Elementary School in the Harborfields Central School District. On September 10, 2025, Kirk — the 31-year-old co-founder of Turning Point USA — was fatally shot while speaking at Utah Valley University; Tyler James Robinson was arrested and charged with the murder, and has pleaded not guilty. The next day, September 11, 2025, Mara posted a TikTok to her @longislandlesbian account on the political divide over gun control.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation #

In the video, Mara answered the accusation she saw coming: “‘It sickens me that you’re celebrating his death, he was a father,’” she said, paraphrasing Kirk’s supporters. “We’re not celebrating his death. We are responding to his death the way he responded to children getting pew-pewed in schools. And that response is thoughts and prayers. I guess that’s the price you pay to freely bear arms in the United States of America.” She invoked reactions to school shootings and to Kirk’s own April 2023 comment that “I think it’s worth it to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights.”

The video was captured by Westhampton Beach parent Wendy Fisher and shared publicly on Facebook — where, the lawsuit says, it ran under the caption “High school chorus teacher excited about Charlie Kirk’s death” — and parents and others complained to the district. The next day, the lawsuit says, Superintendent Carolyn Probst sent Mara a letter placing her on administrative leave and barring her from the high school campus: “Effective immediately, you are administratively assigned to home with pay,” it read. She was then let go that fall — the lawsuit and Dan’s Papers place the termination in November 2025, while LongIsland.com reports it came in December.

In a November 5 letter, Probst cited “deficiencies in the areas of professional judgment and appropriate boundaries,” alleging Mara had “spoken to students during class on topics of a sexual nature” and “asked a student if they are bisexual.” Mara and her attorneys call those claims dubious and discriminatory: her lawsuit points to prior positive performance evaluations, asserts that no classroom misconduct was found, and argues that “heterosexual employees who discuss their dating lives or partners were not accused of discussing sexual topics.” Her attorney, Austin Smith, said the complaints only surfaced after the TikTok: “At no point did any of these complaints come out over the course of the year. They all came out sort of all of a sudden after the Charlie Kirk video, and she was recommended for termination.” Those allegations are unproven, and the district did not return requests for comment.

Public Reaction and Consequences #

About 30 people attended a school board meeting to voice concerns, with several parents urging the district to remove Mara from her position. Fisher, who said the video disturbed her and implied Kirk deserved his fate, told News12 Long Island, “I think it was hateful rhetoric and showing bias against certain groups of students.” Others agreed she had crossed a line: Kelly McLaren commented, “My issue is simple. She is a teacher. Just as I say to actors and athletes. We are paying for your professional work, not your opinion.”

But Mara also drew defenders who said she had never brought politics into the classroom. “That’s not Democrat Party or Republican Party, I just believe people have the right to say what they want to say,” one parent told News12. “No one is celebrating Kirk’s death … I stand with this teacher and everyone else who speaks truth to power,” commenter Jessica McHugh wrote, noting Kirk had dismissed gun deaths as an acceptable “cost.”

The district publicly acknowledged the controversy but declined further comment: “The district is aware of the matter being referenced; however, we are unable to discuss this as it is a matter of personnel.” In April 2026, Mara sued the Westhampton Union Free School District and Superintendent Carolyn Probst in Suffolk County Supreme Court, arguing the firing violated New York labor law and state human rights protections and targeted her for her sexual orientation and for speaking off of school property. She is seeking $5 million in damages as well as lost wages, emotional distress damages and attorney fees.

Current Status #

The lawsuit is pending. The district has not commented; a spokesperson told Newsday it does not comment on litigation. Mara’s @longislandlesbian TikTok account is no longer active or available for viewing, and the original post has been taken down. After leaving the district, she joined Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians. Her attorney says the aftermath has cost her work: “This is all over the internet. She’s been applying for jobs and she’s been Scarlet Letter’d, and no one on Long Island will hire her because of this,” Smith said.

Impact on Their Career/Life #

Mara went from newly hired music teacher to unemployed litigant within weeks of the post, and her lawsuit claims the firing caused emotional distress, humiliation, mental anguish, and damage to her professional reputation. She appears to be the first person on Long Island fired over a response to Kirk’s killing, in a wave that cost as many as 600 people their jobs — mostly public sector employees, but also media figures. As Smith put it, she “was just repeating what Charlie Kirk had said about school shootings,” and “she didn’t say he was vile. She just repeated that line.” Whether a public school teacher may be fired for speech made off campus and off district equipment, or — as the district has alleged, without proven findings — for professional judgment and boundary deficiencies, is now for a court to decide.