Ah, forward thinking Colorado. This law was apparently passed just last year to prevent foreign flags in or on state buildings with an exemption to temporarily allow them for teaching purposes. Since Hamlin wanted to leave them there for the whole school year, he was in violation. Maybe.
Teacher Placed On Leave For Hanging Foreign Flags
A Jefferson County geography teacher was placed on paid administrative on the second day of school for hanging several flags from other countries in his classroom.
Eric Hamlin said the flags were part of a world geography lesson plan at Carmody Middle School and refused to take them down. The school’s principal escorted Hamlin out of class Wednesday morning after he refused to remove the flags of China and Mexico.
The school district placed him on administrative leave for insubordination, citing a Colorado law that makes it illegal to display foreign flags permanently in schools.
“Under state law, foreign flags can only be in the classroom because it’s tied to the curriculum. And the principal looked at the curriculum, talked to the teacher, and found that there was really no curriculum coming up in the next few weeks that supported those flags being in the classroom,” Jeffco Public Schools spokeswoman Lynn Setzer said Wednesday.
He’s coming back to class tomorrow.
First I’m not sure the law could pass Constitutional muster.
Second, although the Principal might have been wrong, the teacher should have obeyed and then gone to the Superintendent and later the Board. It doesn’t matter how wrong the boss is, if you want to keep your job, you do as he says. With the caveat that the order was lawful.
If you want to be a activist or an idealist that’s great. Just don’t expect to keep a public teaching job while doing it. Regardless what you think of the community, they pay the taxes that pays the salaries. Should a community not expect an employee that has the responsibilities of an educator not to abide by their standards? If you fail to work within the system, you’ll not be a good teacher because you will not be there.
There are other countries.
Colorado: *gasp*
Sorry, RT — that’s a cop-out. There may be other factors; but, we have yet another generation that couldn’t find their way across the United States without being lead by the hand by AAA.
Flags — and other nations — are part of the real world regardless of ignorant, parochial regulations.
Activist? He is a geography teacher for christ’s sake!!! God forbid he were to teach those children about other countries and their flags. That could lead to them being EDUCATED! AND We all know that if we want good little Republicans we can’t educate them.
I just gave a teacher friend a map of the world for her classroom.
I guess she could be headed for litigation or something. In our state the lawmakers are a bunch of dipshits. We just voted a bunch of them out of office. They’re all focused on per diem accounts, free liquor and meals or just being important. We have a state law that says if you are being attacked by another person your responsibility is to retreat. So you have to retreat from the creeps, crooks and terrorists and surrender your money to a bunch of pervs, drunks and pigs in the capitol who are going to protect you from the dangers of the flags of the world. You aren’t safe but you are safer, whatever that bullshit means.
So we can’t display the Mexican flag in classrooms — how about not using our tax dollars to educate Mexican CITIZENS in our classrooms? This shit just doesn’t make sense.
Geography teacher or not, one should call him what he is – activist. I hope we didn’t lose common sense… There is a clear meaning behind the flags he picked. And it is obviously not educational. Why not Brasilian and Japanese flag? Because those wouldn’t carry the same meaning.
sounds like a Liberal, anti-american, terrorist scumbag
Clear meaning? I can think of several.
One obvious one would be that they are the two countries that have the largest effect on the US – in many fashions. That would make sense concidering his subject….
… oh wait, yeah, sorry.. he’s an activist because he is doing something that could be seen as controversial. Geez…
We elect School Boards to formulate policy. You don’t like the policy, vote them out. Until you do, their direction and policy is what counts.
This, people, is called democracy. It may be the worst system of governing imaginable, but it is still better then all the rest. So, while what happened to the teacher might have been poor educational practice, it is still local policy and that is what counts.
When did the word “activist” become a pejorative? I suppose we can add it to the list of words given a false negative connotation by the religious nutjobs, along with liberal, democrat, and freedom.
damn this guy needs to bring a jolly-roger flag and dress like a priate- and then the pricipal would have to suck it.
I hope the teacher gets canned. I sick of the Globalist and their agenda. If they want to be part of the Global community move to China (or Mexico) and make their living off those economies. These activities are so two-faced, the condemn us and those that promote the “National Interest”, the same interests that gives them their high-standard of living, and then turn around and try to position themselves as high-minded evalengist without really understanding where and what their polices lead to.
What’s to stop business from outsourcing either teachers, or Tech writers? Sure right now the qualifications are high, but at the stroke of a pen that can be changed. Look at Los Angles, many of the housing laws that are applied to citizens are now be changed for the Mexicans annexing the state currently.
So, was the teacher bullying the kids, or was the principal bullying the teacher … or are all those flags a fire hazard?
So, traxx, you would rather our children be ignorant of the world? Be even more insulated and unaware than they already are? If you’re right and the rest of the world is our enemy, then, as Sun Tsu (Art of War) stressed, the best way to win is to know your enemy inside and out, and then use that knowledge against them. Oops, sorry. Sun was a damn ferener so his words are irrelevant. Guess we’ll just have to burrow in our holes, wave the flag and hope the world – which learned everything they could about us so they could beat us at our own game – doesn’t cement over the entrance.
Mr. H. Fusion
It appears as if the guy was following policy and the principle decided he didn’t agree with the teachers view on what was required for the curriculum. So it is more of a dispute of opinion on what is best to educate the students in his class. Not a clear violation on the teachers part. I guess it would all depend on how you define temporary.
dusan maletic
“There is a clear meaning behind the flags he picked”
REALLY? Can you enlighten all of us on what his agenda is?
“And it is obviously not educational”
How would you know? Have you ever attended his class?
The only thing he seems to be active about is teaching his students about geography.
Can you even identify those flags if you saw them? Without looking them up on the internet?
I see a lot of people here that have never been to this guys class. Don’t know what he was teaching. Probably don’t even know 5% of the countries in the world passing judgment on this guy and what he is teaching.
This is America, the melting pot! Grow up and stop being such bigots Go read the The New Colossus.
@ #12 no one important
I’m assuming when you say “religious nutjobs” you mean those who are religious AND radical, right? Because I’m religious and I firmly believe in activism when the cause is just.
And, for the record, I hope there is more to this law than just “foreign flags can’t be hung permanently.” That’s just…un-American. America’s a melting pot–not a locked box. If that is all that is to the law, more power to him.
……..
Dudes…… your country is plain f***ed up and you’re all insane. Unless the stuff Jonh and others put here is balloney you are headed for some scary facist country. If I was a US citizen I’d have emmigrated to another country long ago.
#19 Luis,
Yes, our country is f***ed up, and it is very scary that it is heading in a fascist direction. I’m an American, I don’t want to leave, I want the neo-fascist religious extremists to leave. Preferably, they will all go to a small atoll in the South Pacific.
To #8,
My eyebrow went up when I saw the two flags he had up. But I wonder if those were the only two flags he had up or whether those were just the only two flags in the room that the article saw fit to mention.
We all know , of course, that the media never manipulates the information it delivers or goes for a cheap shot just to sell more papers.
#17, J,
That might very well be the case. Unless it is clearly illegal, however, one should follow the bosses orders. What the teacher did was insubordination. The teacher’s options might not have been pleasant; he could have resigned or he could have gone to the Superintendent / Board with his concerns. Not following your bosses orders will always lead to a world of misery.
#22 —
And yet, he chose to stand up for what is right. And he is back in the classroom today.
He had those two flags up… He has a collection of 50 flags. He will rotate those flags every 6 weeks. The administration misinterpreted the law, and he took a proper stand for rights of educators and students, and won. He’s a hero.
Anyone who truly believes he’s an activist is an idiot, or at least has some sort of misguided axe to grind. He’s a damn geography teacher. I can’t imagine trying to geography without flags and maps and you know… geography.
And as for that bullshit way up the page about how diversity is impossible and human nature and whatever else babbled out of whomever that was… How blind to what’s going on can you be? Diversity not only works, but it is essential to our survival in the long term. The only time I see diversity fail is when it involves poorly educated extremists, typical ultra right wing nutjobs, but sometimes ultra leftist loonbats too, who allow some archaic dogma or religion or just some deep seated, misplaced hate rule their judgement.
From right to left, the rational spectrum can meet in the middle and we all get along just fine.
Sure he is back in the classroom. How much pay did he lose and how big is that black mark on his file? Unless, and probably even if, the principal is fired, the guy is history. When his contract comes up for renewal, he better start looking for a new gig.
I’m not arguing the guy was wrong to put up the flags. He was wrong to ignore the lawful order of the Principal, which was to remove the flags. If he disagreed, then he could appeal to the Superintendent. He chose to disobey the Principal and will pay the consequences down the road.
Fusion
“How much pay did he lose”
None. He was on paid leave
” how big is that black mark on his file”
It is of little or no consequence in most schools.
“When his contract comes up for renewal, he better start looking for a new gig”
That is why I support teachers unions. I think the principal might actually be the one looking for work.
“He was wrong to ignore the lawful order of the Principal”
There is no law that supports what the principal did. I think the decision to reinstate him proves that.
Even in the military you do not have to obey an unlawful order. As a matter of fact it is your duty to disobey an unlawful order.