High school principal placed on leave for saying 'karma caught up' with Kobe Bryant

'I have some personal experience that generated the visceral reaction'

A high school principal apologised publicly for a Facebook post she wrote insinuating that Kobe Bryant deserved to die in the helicopter crash that killed him, his daughter and seven others. The principal was placed on administrative leave Tuesday.

Liza Sejkora, the principal at Camas High School in Camas, Washington, apologised for a post she made to Facebook that said: “Not gonna lie. Seems to me that karma caught up with a rapist today.”

Complaints about her tweet began to circulate around Camas, and was eventually reported on by ABC News’ affiliate in Portland, KATU.

Ms Sejkora publicly apologised for the post during a segment on KATU.

“I have some personal experience that generated the visceral reaction,” Ms Sejkora said. “This was a situation where I didn’t think before I posted, and I’m terribly regretful about that.”

Ms Sejkora’s post was in reference to rape charges Mr Bryant faced in 2003 involving a 19-year-old woman. Mr Bryant denied that the encounter was nonconsensual. The case was eventually dropped and an out-of-court settlement was reached between Mr Bryant and the woman.

Following the post, the principal deleted her Facebook and Twitter accounts. She admits that she has often warned her students to be careful of what they post on social media because of how it can impact their lives.

“I’m embarrassed that I made such a poor decision and let down my students,” she said. “We communicated with our community last night, my teachers yesterday, and then the students today. I’m hopeful that my regret will garner me some trust moving forward.”

Ms Sejkora expressed concerns over her job, but it appears the school’s superintendent intends to stand by the principal while she is “rebuilding trust with the community.”

In the meantime, the Camas School District said Tuesday it was putting Ms Sejkora on administrative leave while it investigated the post.

Ms Sejkora’s apology didn’t satisfy everyone, however. Logan Schmidt, a student at the school and a fan of Mr Bryant, said he thought his principal should consider stepping down.

“Honestly, I think she should step down, personally,” said Logan Schmidt, a senior at Camas. “Those types of things, you just really can’t be saying that. You know, it is one thing if it is another student or someone else said that, I would still have the same feelings. But when you are a public figure and people look up to you and you are the principal of a school full of kids and you say something like that? I mean, you are definitely set to a higher standard. That’s ridiculous. You can’t be saying that.”

A group of Camas students planned a walkout Wednesday at 1pm to protest Ms Sejkora’s post. The walkout lasted nine minutes, one for each of the victims of the plane crash.