CRESTON, Iowa [WHO-TV] — A Creston Community School District teacher who sued the district over alleged First Amendment rights violations after she was reprimanded for comments made on social media about the assassination of Charlie Kirk got a win in court on Tuesday.

Melisa Crook, a high school teacher, was placed on administrative leave in September after school officials said her post about Kirk’s assassination caused a significant disruption to the school, including hundreds of phone calls and emails. According to court records, Crook made a post on Facebook saying, “He is a terrible human being … terrible. I do not wish death on anyone, but he [sic] him not being here is a blessing.”

Court records go on to say that Crook was later contacted by Superintendent Deron Stender who said she had been placed on administrative leave. An investigation was conducted by the district into the incident, which reportedly found that the district had received over 100 emails and over 140 calls about Crook’s comment. Court records say the investigative report also claimed that Crook’s comment resulted in the need for more law enforcement presence.

Several days after the post was made the district was made aware of a rumor among students that one of the schools was the target of a potential threat of violence and requested additional law enforcement presence out of an abundance of caution. The threat was deemed not credible. According to court records, Crook was given a Notice Recommendation to Terminate her contract on September 23; however, Crook sued the district, claiming that they had violated her right to free speech, and requested a temporary restraining order that would block the district from terminating her, which the court granted.

On Tuesday, a federal judge partially sided with Crooks in her motion for a preliminary injunction. The ruling found that the district likely violated Crook’s rights to freedom of speech, as the judge found that “Crook posted her Facebook comments on her personal time, at home, from her personal Facebook account. She did not purport to speak as an employee of the Creston Community School District.”

The judge also found that the defense failed to establish that Crook’s comments had disrupted operations at the school. According to the ruling, the defense failed to establish whether all the calls and emails they received actually came from members of the district, like parents or students, or if they came from members of the general Creston community. The ruling also states that of the 104 voicemail messages left only one appeared to be from a parent or a student. “At this stage of proceedings, Defendants’ evidence regarding the volume of calls, emails, and social media posts Defendants identify as responding to Crook’s Facebook post is not sufficient to raise a question of disruption,” the ruling says.

In regard to the additional law enforcement requested, the ruling said that no students testified to the threat of violence or submitted affidavits, the only testimony came from administrators. The ruling also stated that additional law enforcement personnel were requested after the threat was deemed not credible and was requested at the elementary school, not the high school where Crooks worked. Thus, the court ruled that the “Defendants’ evidence of law enforcement personnel on campus is not probative of disruption when Defendants caused the law enforcement personnel to be on campus.”

As part of the preliminary injunction, Crook requested to be reinstated to her position; however, the judge ruled against that request. The ruling does state that the district can’t take any further adverse actions against Crook’s employment.

You can read the full ruling below: