Disgraced Fired Over Kissing Stunt – Back Teaching!

Teacher in a blue dress instructing students in a classroom with hands raised

A Colorado teacher fired for graded same‑sex “kissing skits” is now back in a classroom — this time teaching little kids.

Story Snapshot

Denver Public Schools unanimously fired French teacher Jennifer Honka for “incompetence and neglect of duty” after graded skits where girls felt pressured to kiss each other.^[3]
An administrative law judge found her “same-gender” kissing skits and graphic personal disclosures to students were “irresponsible and inappropriate.”^[3]^[5]
Despite this record, Honka has landed a new job teaching elementary students English language arts at another Colorado school.^[4]
Parents say the case exposes how the system quietly recycles problem teachers instead of putting child safety and family values first.^[4]

How a Denver French Teacher Ended Up Fired for Same-Sex “Kissing Skits”

Denver Public Schools hired Jennifer Honka to teach French language and culture at Northeast Early College, where she worked for about eight years.^[3] During the 2023–24 school year, students began complaining about graded classroom skits that required them to act out scenes with kissing, often between students of the same sex.^[3]^[11] The skits carried titles like “The Neighbors Saw Everything” and “The Boring Kiss,” and were part of regular performance grades, which raised the stakes for teens who felt uncomfortable.^[1]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fxt6hPwaxDQ

According to reports on the district’s investigation and a later independent review, several girls said they felt pressured to kiss classmates because their grades depended on those skits.^[1]^[3] One student told another teacher she was uncomfortable but went along anyway, later sharing a meme that said her teacher “makes girls kiss.”^[1] Another student said she refused to participate and received a zero on the assignment.^[1] Denver district staff concluded this pattern did not serve the best interests of the students in her care.^[1]

What the Judge Found: “Irresponsible and Inappropriate” Conduct

Under Colorado law, Honka appealed the district’s move to fire her, which triggered a formal hearing before an administrative law judge.^[3] Judge Keith Kirchubel reviewed testimony from students, staff, and the teacher, and focused on how the skits forced students to handle a “personal and sexualized activity” in front of their peers while under her authority.^[3]^[5] He noted the kissing roles were consistently assigned to same-sex pairs and found her choices “irresponsible and inappropriate” for a school setting.^[3]^[5]

Kirchubel wrote that even if Honka did not literally force students to kiss, her script choices still pressured them to express consent or refusal on the spot, with grades hanging over their heads.^[3]^[5] The review also found she shared highly sensitive personal details in class, including her sexuality, fertility struggles, childhood abuse, and suicidal thoughts.^[1]^[3]^[11] The judge concluded that these disclosures, combined with the sexualized skits, amounted to “incompetence and neglect of duty” because they harmed students and offered little educational value.^[3]^[5]

The Unanimous Firing — and the Loophole That Put Her Back in a Classroom

After the judge issued his decision on April 30, the Denver Public Schools Board met in executive session and voted 7–0 to terminate Honka.^[3]^[10] The board adopted his findings and officially fired her for “incompetence and neglect of duty,” with no public debate before the vote.^[3] A district spokesperson said the investigation showed her actions did not protect “the best interests of the children in her classroom” and praised students and staff who stepped forward.^[3]^[11] On paper, this looked like a rare moment of accountability in a big-city school system.

Jennifer Honka, a French teacher at Northeast Early College (Denver Public Schools), was fired May 20, 2026 after a unanimous board vote.

An independent administrative law judge found she assigned graded skits requiring students (mostly girls) to kiss each other and shared…

— Grok (@grok) June 22, 2026

Yet only weeks after that unanimous decision, Honka appeared on the staff list of another Colorado school, this time as an English language arts teacher at an elementary campus.^[3]^[4] Townhall reported she is listed at Malley Drive Elementary School, part of the Adams 12 Five Star Schools district, working with much younger children than before.^[4] That means a teacher deemed unfit for high schoolers after a full investigation and hearing is now teaching little kids how to read, write, and “trust” the adults in front of them.^[4]

Why Parents See a Bigger Pattern of Ideology Over Child Safety

For many parents, this case is not just about one teacher but about a culture that blurs lines around sex, boundaries, and authority in the classroom. National guidance for teachers on “sensitive topics” stresses that lessons must be age-appropriate, tied to the curriculum, and handled in a balanced way, with controversial plans cleared by administrators in advance.^[18] Forcing kids to navigate same-sex kissing scenes for a grade plainly collides with those standards and with the values of countless families.

Research on school discipline shows how formal and legalistic the system has become, with disputes pushed through hearings and policy instead of simple common-sense judgment.^[20] The Honka case followed that script: complaints, internal probe, outside judge, then a board vote — and yet the end result still allowed her to move quietly into another district and another classroom.^[3]^[4] For conservative families who expect schools to protect innocence, respect parents, and keep sex out of kids’ lessons, this feels less like accountability and more like bureaucratic shuffling of a problem no one wants to face.^[4]^[20]