Gov. Sam Brownback on Monday apologized for his office’s reaction to a Kansas high school senior’s tweet during a visit to the Statehouse.

The governor’s staff complained about a post by Emma Sullivan, 18, and the student quickly landed in hot water with administrators at Shawnee Mission East High School.

Since then, Sullivan’s Twitter account has exploded with new followers, and the story has made national headlines. She decided NOT to apologize as requested by her school principal.

On Monday, Brownback issued a statement attempting to put an end to the hubbub.

“My staff over-reacted to this tweet and for that I apologize,” Brownback said. “Freedom of speech is among our most treasured freedoms.”

Sullivan says she was prepared for negative comments when she returned to school Monday. What surprised her was that the criticism came from schoolmates, while teachers seemed to support her 100 percent.

Sullivan, of the Kansas City suburb of Fairway, said she isn’t sorry and doesn’t think a letter of apology to the governor would be sincere.

The Shawnee Mission East senior was taking part in a Youth in Government program last week in Topeka when she sent out a tweet from the back of a crowd of students listening to Brownback’s greeting.

From her cellphone, she thumbed: “Just made mean comments at gov. brownback and told him he sucked, in person (hash)heblowsalot.”

She actually made no such comment and said she was “just joking with friends.” But Brownback’s office, which monitors social media for postings containing the governor’s name, saw Sullivan’s post and contacted the Youth in Government program.

Sullivan received a scolding from her principal and was ordered to send Brownback an apology letter, but she has refused.

The situation went viral after Sullivan’s older sister contacted the media. Since then, Sullivan’s following on Twitter has grown to about 3,000 people, up from about 65 before the tweet.