A schoolteacher was caught on video ranting about masks, vaccines, politics and former President Donald Trump in a Utah high school. The female high school teacher at Lehi High School taught chemistry, but chose to go into a politically-charged rant during class on the first day of classes.
The teacher was identified as Leah Kinyon, and she began her rant about vaccines. “I am like so over it. I will be super proud of you if you choose to get the vaccine,” she said. She made a public declaration about vaccines, “This is my classroom and if you guys are going to put me at risk, you are going to hear about it,” she continued, “I have to be here and I don’t have to be happy about the fact that there are kids coming in here with their variants that could get me or my family sick. That’s rude. And I am not going to pretend like it’s not. So don’t ask me to.”
The chemistry teacher questioned the intelligence of her students’ parents and said they’re “dumber than you.” Kinyon said the following:
“Most of y’all parents are dumber than you. I am going to say that out loud. My parents are freaking dumb and the minute I figured that out, the world opens up. You don’t have to do everything your parents say and you don’t have to believe everything your parents believe, because most likely you are smarter than them.”
Then, Kinyon blasted Trump, saying that he “sucks” and that she believed he is a “literal moron.”
Kinyon also criticized school administrators before her class and said, “Go tattle on me to the freaking admins. They don’t give a crap.” She also warned students to not say anything derogatory towards LGBTQ+ students.
Parents told local news affiliate 2KUTV that they were upset with how Kinyon addressed her concerns in the rant. An unidentified parent said she was “just shocked and upset and just mad” about the rant. She told the news outlet, “I didn’t understand the severity of what happened until I saw the video.” The same parent added that she would never have predicted this kind of rant in a school setting, “Not for the first day, not ever.”
The Alpine School District, which covers the northern party of Utah Valley and is south of Salt Lake City, said that the teacher is no longer employed by the district. Its statement read, “Alpine School District has concluded our investigation of the incident that occurred on August 17, 2021 at Lehi High School.” It added, “Although the details of a personnel investigation are confidential, the teacher involved is no longer an employee of Alpine School District.” The school district did not confirm whether the teacher resigned or was fired.
The coronavirus pandemic has been stressful for teachers such as Kinyon, but it is an inappropriate time and place to rant about one’s personal opinions in a classroom during school hours. Kinyon’s statements highlight how left-wing and liberal ideology is commonplace among teachers and further exposed how public school education cannot be fully trusted to be fair, neutral and unbiased.
