Elkhorn administrator falsely linked to viral post about Charlie Kirk’s death, increased police presence in response
ELKHORN, Wis. (CBS 58) – The superintendent of the Elkhorn Area School District says a viral post connecting an administrator to celebratory comments about Charlie Kirk’s assassination is false. However, hundreds of comments continue to flood social media, causing an increased police presence on Monday, Sept. 14.
According to Superintendent Jason Tadlock, the Facebook page of West Side Elementary School was flooded with comments about a post connected to Associate Principal Cynthia Rehberg on Friday, Sept. 12.
A conservative activist with a million followers on Facebook shared a post on Friday accusing Rehberg of writing a post celebrating Kirk’s death. The original post came from a profile named “Crynthia Irene,” which Tadlock said is not Rehberg’s account.
“Somebody took that post and then put Cindy Rehberg’s work photo from our page and clipped it to that post,” Tadlock said.
Tadlock said an internal investigation and two external investigations proved she was not the author of the post and the original author was based in Williams Bay
Tadlock said the district received at least 700 voicemails due to this matter. The district deactivated the West Side Elementary School Facebook page due to the overwhelming number of comments.
The Republican Party of Walworth County made a statement in defense of Rehberg.
Tadlock said even though the district itself didn’t receive any threats, Rehberg has been dealing with an extremely disruptive and distressing situation, which will cause the school to have an increased police presence in the coming days.
“I know that I have kids that won’t be in school tomorrow because the parents are afraid and concerned about it,” Tadlock said. “It’s damaging to the school district, our reputation.”
The district and many families connected to the school have reached out to the conservative activist asking to take the post down. As of Sunday, Sept. 14, the post remains up.
“Someone should be held accountable when there’s misinformation published and posted and there’s slander in that,” Tadlock said. “There should be an easier way to get that down.”