Teacher who refused to obey Illinois COVID mandate is fired by Springfield school district

In Kingsley Keys' estimation Monday, the door finally shut on his 20-plus-year teaching career in Springfield School District 186.

But even after the board of education voted to terminate Keys as a music teacher at Franklin Middle School for skirting an Illinois mandate requiring teachers to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccinations or submit to weekly testing, he hardly seemed bitter, even thanking the school board for letting him teach there.

"Now that this door is shut, I'm really excited to see what those doors are going to be that open next," Keys said afterward.

The 6-0 vote came after school board President Anthony Mares read the notice of charges and dismissal. There was no discussion following the vote. Bill Ringer of Subdistrict 7 was absent from the meeting.

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Keys had until last week to come under a remediation plan set out by the district. He is on unpaid leave until Wednesday.

Keys has until Dec. 2 to request a hearing with the district.

Keys, who stood while the board voted, said he was thinking of "the number of kids and students I had been able to impact and talk to and love and mentor in those 20-plus years. Now I'm on to something different. I fully believe that God has led me through this in a very personal way with (my wife) and my family."

Ultimately, Keys said, he couldn't put "my paycheck over my principles, and I won't sacrifice my strong personal values just to maintain a career."

Keys added he had "a great relationship" with Springfield District 186 Superintendent Jennifer Gill and with his principal, Todd Davis.

Kimberly Smoot, a teacher at Springfield High School, spoke in support of Keys during the public comment section.

"This is just wrong," Smoot said. "He is standing up for what he believes in. We should be able to do that. He drew a different line in the sand than I have.

"When that line is moved a little bit more, so many people will not work for the school district and they will leave their jobs, just like Kingsley is doing, and I'm one of those people."

That was a reference, Smoot said, to entities like District 186 moving away from a COVID-19 testing option. Smoot said she tests weekly because she is not vaccinated.

Jennifer Rockwell, a music teacher at Fairview Elementary School, thanked the district for enforcing guidelines set out by the Illinois State Board of Education about the mandate and the school board "for setting an example for our students" by following the rules "even if it has been hard and unpopular with some people."

Rockwell never mentioned Keys by name.

Board member Micah Miller, prior to the vote, thanked district employees who had been "dedicated to the mission of keeping schools open safely from day one, those employees who have focused on what it takes to serve our students and their families."

After the meeting, Gill admitted she had a pit in her stomach.

"You don't want to see someone lose their livelihood," said Gill, a former teacher in the district. "You don't want to see a teacher who is good at what he does lose his job. I respect Kingsley and the work he's done with students over time, so that made this extraordinarily difficult tonight, and I think every board member feels the same way.

"My job is that I run a school district and have a highly qualified teacher in a classroom for every child, and for the last seemingly two months we have not had a teacher in that classroom. We've not had someone who's been highly qualified to teach the subject he taught, so that was a disservice to students as well. This allows us to open a door to get a teacher in who can teach the subject."

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Gov. JB Pritzker issued an executive order in August under which teachers and other school personnel had to get fully vaccinated or submit to weekly COVID-19 testing.

Another teacher who defied the mandate, Kadence Koen, provided the district proof of her vaccination status on Nov. 6. Koen returns to her classroom at Southeast High School on Friday.

Keys wouldn't confirm that he is taking legal action against the district.

"The board knows there are many lawsuits happening all around the state," Keys said. "Any legal action that is going to be successful will be a win for teachers everywhere."

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Teacher fired by Springfield, Ill. school district over COVID mandate