North Creek High School exterior Credit: Northshore School District
The principal of North Creek High School, Eric McDowell, has stepped down from his position amidst a wave of backlash resulting from a post he made following Charlie Kirk’s murder.
In the wake of the violence he posted an image to his personal Instagram account that read: “Thoughts and prayers. Too bad gun control would have been far far more effective (he’d still be alive). Maybe thoughts and prayers will work…oops – nope.”
This commentary was layered over an image of Charlie Kirk with the words “Pray for Charlie Kirk”.
The post was quickly removed but not before several complaints were filed with the Northshore School District.
According to NPR network, over 30 calls and emails have been received in response to the images as well as around 60 anonymous comments.
Initially the first complaints were attributed to a former North Creek High School student and his father but their mention and quotes have since been removed from news coverage of the issue.
In response to this backlash, Eric McDowell sent out a note to North Creek families in which he stated that he never meant to disrespect Charlie Kirk or anyone of faith who believed in the power of prayer. “I truly wish [Charlie Kirk] was alive today. Violence is never the way to resolve disagreements or conflicts.”
He concluded his statement by saying he would be “stepping down as Principal of North Creek for the time being to reflect and ensure the focus of NCHS is [the] students.”
This issue has sparked debate amongst the local community on the responsibilities of an educator to be impartial and the rights of a citizen to express themselves freely.
This story is ongoing.
The Source: Information in this story is from an article written by Sebastian Robertson for K5 news titled “North Creek High School principal is ‘stepping away’ following social media post about Charlie Kirk” and an article written by Hana Kim for FOX 13 titled “Complaints filed against Bothell, WA principal over Charlie Kirk post”