Thread: Teacher Placed On Leave For Hanging Foreign Flags

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Teacher Placed On Leave For Hanging Foreign Flags
Geography Teacher At Carmody Middle School Refuses To Take Down Flags

POSTED: 3:01 pm MDT August 23, 2006
UPDATED: 6:27 pm MDT August 23, 2006

LAKEWOOD, Colo. -- 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," said Jeffco Public Schools spokeswoman Lynn Setzer.

But Hamlin said although his curriculum may not speak specifically about those flags, they are used as reference tools for world geography.

"It's much along the lines of a science teacher who puts up a map of the solar system. They may not spend every day and every lesson talking about Mars, but they want the students to see that and to see the patterns of the planets and the order, and the students will observe that and absorb that learning visually," Hamlin said.

Hamlin said that the school district is not only depriving him of a teaching tool but also taking away from his students' education.

"The major problem I see here is with the law that limits educators," Hamlin said.

"We have to uphold state law. We really have no discretion when it comes to upholding the law," Setzer said.

Hamlin said he understands that the school district is only following state law so he's met with the American Civil Liberties Union and, if necessary, plans on fighting the constitutionality of the law.

This is the fourth year Hamlin has worked within the Jeffco School District, and he said he's hung the flags every year without a problem. This is his first year at Carmody Middle School.

Hamlin, who teaches 7th grade, said he believes the national debate surrounding immigration and the Mexican flag has contributed to the controversy. He wonders if he would have caused such a stir if he had hung flags of Switzerland or Australia instead of Mexico.

Hamlin will be on paid administrative leave indefinitely, pending the outcome of the school district's investigation.

Do you think the teacher should be fired for refusing to remove the flags or is the school district wrong? Click here to post your thoughts on this story.

Doesn't it seem like teachers nowadays are going totally overboard? I heard today about a teacher who wanted to demonstrate the first amendment by burning a little of the U.S. flag to his 7th graders. What is going on? Are some teachers getting so carried away with freedom of expression or political correctness that anything goes? I hear some classrooms no longer say the Pledge of Allegience. Guess we don't want to offend those who aren't citizens or belong to a certain religion. No wonder some people home school or send their kids to private schools. Glad I was fortunate enough to attend school when we had pride in our country and were unified!

I noticed this article mentioned he also failed to remove a UN flag.

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_4228017

Article Last Updated: 08/24/2006 07:35:52 AM MDT

denver & the west
Teacher showing foreign flags put on leave
Jeffco leaders say the state bans the banners, even in geography class, when they are not part of the lesson.
By Karen Rouse
Denver Post Staff Writer


Eric Hamlin, suspended for refusing to remove foreign flags from his world geography class, notes that a U.S. flag is permanently on display. (Post / John Leyba)

A seventh-grade geography teacher who refused to remove Chinese, Mexican and United Nations flags from his classroom was placed on paid administrative leave Wednesday by Jefferson County officials who were concerned that the display violates the law.

District officials said state law forbids the display of foreign flags unless they are temporary and related to the curriculum.

Carmody Middle School principal John Schalk looked at the curriculum for Eric Hamlin's world geography class "and there was nothing ... related to any of these countries," said Lynn Setzer, district spokeswoman.

She said Schalk asked the teacher three times to remove the flags and warned there would be consequences, but Hamlin refused.

Hamlin, in his first year at Carmody, said he regularly displays flags from different countries, rotating them out based on countries being studied.

He said that the first six weeks of school are devoted to discussing the "fundamentals of geography" and that the flags were randomly selected.

District officials are citing Colorado Revised Statute 18-11- 205. It says: "Any person who displays any flag other than the flag of the United States of America or the state of Colorado or any of its subdivisions, agencies or institutions upon any state, county, municipal or other public building or adjacent grounds within this state commits a class 1 petty offense."

It says an exception to that law is "the display of any flag ... that is part of a temporary display of any instructional or historical materials not permanently affixed or attached to any part of the buildings ... ."

Mark Silverstein, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, said he didn't see how the statute applied to this situation.

District Superintendent Cindy Stevenson said the district has contacted

Hamlin and is trying to resolve the issue.
"We have not heard back," she said.

She said Hamlin could have complied with the principal's request and then followed policies that allow him to appeal.

Schalk did not return a phone call seeking comment, but Stevenson said the current topic for the class was "latitude and longitude, not the culture of China, not the culture of Mexico."

The punishment for insubordination could range from a reprimand to dismissal, Setzer said.

Hamlin said he was in his classroom Monday when an assistant principal came in, saw the flags and told him they needed to be removed.

Hamlin said there is an American flag stationed permanently in the classroom.

He said he believes school officials are being extra cautious because of a controversy at Denver's North High School when a Mexican flag was hung by a social studies teacher and people complained.

Staff writer Karen Rouse can be reached at 303-820-1684 or krouse@denverpost.com.

Para leer este artículo en español, vaya a denverpost.com/aldia