Parents Furious: Kissing-Skit Teacher Rehired

Empty classroom with wooden desks and chalkboard.

A Colorado teacher fired for graded “same‑gender kissing” skits is now back in a public elementary classroom, and parents are asking how this was allowed to happen.

Story Snapshot

A Denver French teacher was unanimously fired after students said they felt pressured to kiss classmates in graded skits.^[2]
An administrative law judge called her skit-based teaching “irresponsible and inappropriate” and said it put kids in sexualized situations.^[13]
The teacher, Jennifer Honka, is now listed as an elementary school teacher in another Colorado district, working with younger children.^[10]
The case highlights how activist teaching, weak vetting, and opaque bureaucracy can fail parents who expect basic classroom safety.

Fired Over Same‑Gender Kissing Skits, Yet Hired Again

Denver Public Schools fired French teacher Jennifer Honka after an investigation found she encouraged students to kiss classmates during biweekly French skits that counted toward their grades.^[13] The Denver Public Schools Board of Education voted 7‑0 to terminate her for “incompetence and neglect of duty” after students reported feeling pressured to participate, including kissing scenes in front of their peers.^[2] The assignments used scripts titled “The Neighbors Saw Everything” and “The Boring Kiss,” which reportedly called for multiple kisses during the performance.^[13]

Reports say Honka often chose girls to play the kissing roles, even though the class was close to half boys.^[3] One student told another teacher she was uncomfortable but still went through with the skit, later sharing a meme saying “she makes girls kiss.”^[13] Another student refused to participate and testified she received a zero on the assignment, reinforcing the sense that this was not truly optional.^[4] For many parents, that looks less like a language lesson and more like social engineering using minors as props.

Judge: Classroom Conduct Was Irresponsible, Harmful, And Of Little Educational Value

After Honka appealed the district’s recommendation, a state administrative law judge reviewed the case and backed her dismissal.^[4] The judge wrote that even if she did not physically force students to kiss, her chosen scripts made them publicly decide whether to consent to a “very personal and sexualized activity” in front of classmates while under a teacher’s authority.^[2] He concluded her approach was “irresponsible and inappropriate,” noting the activities had negative effects on students and offered little or no real educational value.^[13]

The investigation also found Honka repeatedly shared intimate personal details with students, including her sexuality, fertility struggles, suicidal thoughts, and childhood abuse.^[13] She claimed this helped build trust, but at least one student already dealing with suicidal thoughts reportedly left her class afterward.^[13] For many families, this crosses a bright line: children come to school to learn academics in a safe setting, not to be drawn into an adult’s trauma or ideology. The district later said her actions did not protect the best interests of children in her care.^[10]

From Middle School French To Elementary Students: A Broken Safety Net

Despite all this, Honka “now appears to be listed” as an English language development teacher at Malley Drive Elementary School in Colorado, placing her in a new role with younger children.^[10] A conservative outlet reports that she stepped into this job soon after the unanimous firing, without even taking a school year off.^[3] That reality has sparked outrage among parents who assumed a clear misconduct finding and a 7‑0 board vote would keep her far away from any classroom, especially at the elementary level.^[3]

This case exposes how disconnected school systems can be from parental expectations. One district investigates, documents harm, and fires a teacher. Another district, facing the same national staffing pressures and often captured by the same progressive culture, hires her to work with even younger kids. Many conservative parents already feel schools push “woke” views on gender and sexuality. Learning that a teacher removed over same‑gender kissing skits is back in a classroom only deepens their distrust and strengthens calls for stronger, parent‑driven oversight.^[9]

Parents Want Boundaries, Not Bureaucratic Excuses

Honka has denied forcing kids to kiss and said she offered alternatives like pretending to kiss, blowing a kiss, or doing fist bumps.^[9] But from a parent’s view, that misses the real point. Children should never be put in sexualized scenarios as part of a graded assignment, especially not with a “the answer is always yes” classroom rule that students interpreted as pressure to comply.^[13] The message of that rule cuts directly against everything families try to teach their kids about consent, self‑respect, and saying no to uncomfortable situations.

For many Americans, this story is one more sign that large school systems often protect ideologues instead of children. Denver’s board, under pressure, eventually did the right thing and fired her. But the fact she quickly found another job in an elementary school shows how fragile those protections are. Conservative parents are responding by demanding real background checks, transparent hiring, and the right to know exactly who is in front of their kids — and what those adults believe is “appropriate” in a classroom.^[3]