Propel charter schools were founded 22 years ago in the basement of an old homestead hospital. Since then, the network has grown to serve more than 4,000 students across a dozen school districts in Pennsylvania.
This incident comes 18 months after Trump was shot and injured in western Pennsylvania at the Butler County Farm Show complex and four months after Charlie Kirk was fatally shot on a college campus in Utah. After both events, teachers nationwide faced disciplinary action for controversial social media posts either lamenting the assassination attempt for being unsuccessful or celebrating Kirk’s death.
In July 2024, days after Trump was shot, Cassandra Olson, a Sioux Falls School District middle school behavior specialist, wrote, “Shoot—if only he would’ve had his scope sighted correctly” on Facebook. The South Dakota school district acted swiftly, saying in a statement that the staff member “was no longer employed” at the school.
Olson was one of several educators who either lost their jobs or had their teaching licenses pulled for wishing or celebrating harm on Trump.