Homer Township Supervisor Steve Balich | Steve Balich / Twitter
Homer Township Supervisor Steve Balich | Steve Balich / Twitter
Homer Township Supervisor Steve Balich is questioning how a Homer Community Consolidated School District 33C elementary school art teacher was hired despite reportedly disturbing social media posts. Elementary school art teacher Kris Martin’s self-disclosed struggles with ‘mania and psychosis’ prompted fears of potential violence and sparked a call for swift action to remove the individual from the school.
“Was the vetting process done correctly or was their errors?” Balich, who is also a Will County Board member, asked the Will County Gazette. “Are there other hires that slipped through the cracks? What will be done so this never happens again?”
The teacher’s 2018 and 2020 social media posts, including profanity-laden comments targeting police officers, have ignited outrage and prompted calls for action, particularly from parents with students enrolled in the district.
“@Homer33c hired this individual as an elementary school teacher. He claims to suffer from ‘mania and psychosis’ which can lead him to be ’violent and hurtful,’” Libs of TikTok said in an Aug. 17 post on X, formerly Twitter.
The account linked to Martin’s social media.
“I HAVE BI POLAR 1 DISORDER WITH MANIA AND PSYCHOSIS!” the post in Martin’s name reads. “This condition has drastically changed my life for better and worse. Because of it I suffer from irrational thought processes which make my fears and anxieties triple. Every day is a battle with my mind to survive and be the best me I can be. I have done things in conditions of psychosis and mania that have been violent and hurtful. But I am NOT my disease. I am ME! And I know ME. And I LOVE ME!”
Another photo posted by LibsofTikTok and attributed to Martin showed a graphic violent still image from a horror movie depicting blood and death.
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