Teacher Placed On Leave For Hanging Foreign Flags

[proud2BlibKansan]

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, citing a Colorado law that makes it illegal to display foreign flags permanently in schools.
Click here to find out more!

"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.

more . . .
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/education/9726287/detail.html?rss=den&psp=news

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

1. Serves him right. That idiot.

Oh, I'm sorry. I thought this was the thread for the teacher who burned the american flag.

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. It's flag day on DU

LOL

[Karenina]

14. I am so happy I took the time in June

to enjoy the World Cup. Flags were flying EVERYWHERE. One of the favorites hanging from windows all over town was a banner with ALL THE FLAGS printed in it.

[babylonsister]

2. Un-friggin'-believeable! nt

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. My school

has 18 foreign flags in the hall representing some of the countries our kids come from. Good thing we aren't in Colorado, eh?

[babylonsister]

8. I remember flags also in classrooms from my

youth; can't fathom why they're deemed wrong. That's all a part of learning and seeing the big picture. This makes me sad more than anything, to think that someone actually (thinks they) thought this out.:-( And the kids are the ones who will suffer.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

9. I'm going to guess it's Lou Dobbs.

And other racist nutjobs who get upset everytime a mexican immigrant waves a flag.

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. I am stunned it is a state law

Is English also the official language in Colorado?

[NoPasaran]

12. Sho' 'nuff!

COLORADO CONSTITUTION,
ARTICLE II, SECTION 30 (1988)
The English language is the official language of the State of Colorado.

This section is self-executing; however, the General Assembly may enact laws to implement this section.

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/JWCRAWFORD/colo.htm

I wonder why they haven't renamed the state "Red".

[havocmom]

21. LOL They gotta change the name of the state!

Colorado is Spanish isn't it? :rofl:

[NoPasaran]

34. Not just the state

The city of Pueblo, Colorado, shall henceforth be called Town, Red.

[havocmom]

47. Town, Red pretty well sums it up from what I hear.

Was considering a move to CO in a few years. After a lot of research, no way Jose!

[MountainLaurel]

44. They'd really hate schools in my area that do that

My friend taught at a school where most of the students were first-generation immigrants: Their multipurpose room had about 75 different flags hanging.

[movie_girl99]

48. same here and we're in Texas!!!!!

[NC_Nurse]

3. That is ridiculous!!!

:wtf:

[mb7588a]

4. There are no words to express my dumbfounded feelings. nt.

[Lisa]

6. note to my fellow geographers -- they've already come after our maps

... and reference texts! I guess it was only a matter of time before they started on the flags. I used to have a "tacky souvenir day" in my cultural geography course, where I asked students to bring in the ugliest souvenirs they could find (domestic and international) and we used those to examine preconceptions about various countries and regions around the world, vs. reality. I guess that sort of thing will be banned next (if they confiscate my "North American Cities" snowglobe collection when I'm boarding an airplane).

No maps, guidebooks, and almanacs:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,106890,00.html

No photographs of exotic locations:
http://www.counterpunch.org/nally07262006.html
(one of my profs regularly shows photos taken in certain "off-limits" areas)


Boy, at this rate our classes are going to be so boring that students will just not bother registering, rendering us jobless. Maybe that's Lynne Cheney's master plan!

[Buns_of_Fire]

36. "Tacky Souvenir Day" -- I love it!

Maybe someone will come up with a whoopee cushion with "Souvenir of Your Visit to the White House -- 2006" printed on it!

(Is there a buck to be made ridiculing President Pull-My-Finger -- or am I just addicted to tacky? :shrug: )

[Lisa]

51. someone had Bush's number -- the "pull my finger" doll's already available

(it was in production before this tidbit about him was publicized!)
By the way, I just LOVE your whoopee cushion idea. Classic!





http://www.prankplace.com/fbush.htm

[alfredo]

63. Ghazi Walid Falah has been freed

http://www.spaceandculture.org/2006/08/brief-statement-by-free-professor.php

[Igel]

11. So if I taught Russian and had a Soviet flag up, that would

be ok? It's not a foreign flag anymore--it has no standing, since there is no country that it represents.

And if I were a history teacher covering WWII, would displaying a Nazi flag be ok?

Some laws I just don't get.

[Don Claybrook]

13. contact information for Brownshirt Middle School

The article only quoted the district spokesperson, but here's school information and administration information:

Dr. Cindy Stevenson
Superintendent
email: [e-mail]

Lynn Setzer, Propaganda Minister, and the only name mentioned in the article.
[e-mail] (she used to be a teeeveee reporter before joining corporate America and then getting this gig in July)


Staff:

* Mary Kay Turner, Manager for the Superintendent (303-982-6803)
* Helen Neal, Manager, Administrative Services (303-982-6801)
* Debbie Davis, Administrative Assistant (303-982-6800)


Carmody Middle
2050 S. Kipling Street
Lakewood, CO 80227

Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
School Email: [e-mail]
Attendance: 303-982-8923
Principal's Name: John Schalk
School Day Hours: 7:30 am - 2:10 pm
Office Hours: 7:00 am - 3:30 pm
Grades: 7-8
Mascot: Cougars
Colors: Forest Green, Silver and Black
Articulation Area: Bear Creek

[Art_from_Ark]

15. So the teacher hangs up several foreign flags

but gets suspended for violating the law because he won't take down the flags of Mexico and China? WTF?

And to think that here in Japan, when there is a school sports festival it is customary to hang banners showing flags of several nations over the field.

[tanyev]

16. There's also a survey at the article.

[baldguy]

17. .

:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:
:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:
:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:
:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:
:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:
:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

[tsuki]

20. Exactly. nt

[Nutmegger]

18. How many people don't know where Iraq is?

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/05/02/national/main1571756.shtml

:(

[Blue Belle]

19. Iraq... Hell, most kids can't point out Texas on a map...

This is so fucking rediculous... It reminds me of the classroom in Pleasantville. No words in the books, no roads leading anywhere but back to town... everything black and white.

[LWolf]

22. I'm having trouble coming up with a response.

Words just aren't serving. How about one, or all, of these:

:eyes: :argh: :wow:

:thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown:

:banghead: :yoiks:

[Kajsa]

23. Our children are behind in geography and

they place a teacher on leave for putting up international flags?!?

He could incorporate the flags with the lesson plans
when he teaches about the respective countries.

Just what is it the principal doesn't get?

argh!

:banghead:

[proud2BlibKansan]

25. It's not the principal

It is against the law in Colorado to hang flags from other countries in school.

[EFerrari]

24. Is there a photo of the teacher. (Having trouble with the link.) n/t

[proud2BlibKansan]

26. here

[EFerrari]

28. Thank you. Well, he doesn't look like a terrorist.

I don't think I could teach in Bush World. :crazy:

[BrightKnight]

32. .

[walldude]

27. We have some of the dumbest laws in history in Co

Mind you these are all real laws in Colorado. My notes are in italics..

# One may not mutilate a rock in a state park. We do have really beautiful rocks...

# Car dealers may not show cars on a Sunday. Actually they can show them just not sell them

# It is illegal for liquor stores to sell food or grocery stores to sell any alcohol except beer that is at most 3.2% alcohol. 3.2... whats the point?

# No liquor may be sold on Sundays or election days. Makes for great football parties :eyes:


# It is illegal to ride a horse while under the influence. I've seen a drunken horse.. it's not pretty.

# Tags may be ripped off of pillows and mattresses. Your tax dollars at work

# Throwing missiles at cars is illegal. (Alamosa) Firing them on the other hand...

# Keeping a house where unmarried persons are allowed to have sex is prohibited. they can actually have sex as long as you don't allow it... don't ask, don't tell

# To own a dog over three months of age, one must obtain a license. (Alamosa)however, any moran can have a baby...

# Persons may not urinate in public. (Alamosa) the local bars weren't too happy about this

# It is permissible to wear a holstered six-gun within city limits, except on Sunday, Election Day, or holidays. (Colorado Springs)this one writes it's own gags

# It is illegal to bring your horse or pack mule above the ground floor of any building. (Cripple Creek) thank god, can you imagine the fallout

# The dog catcher must notify dogs of impounding by posting, for three consecutive days, a notice on a tree in the city park and along a public road running through said park. (Denver) the sign just says: Arf, Arf, Woof, Arf, Woof..

# It is unlawful to lend your vacuum cleaner to your next-door neighbor. (Denver) you might get called a sucker

# You may not drive a black car on Sundays. (Denver) didn't stop the Shrub

# It is illegal to mistreat rats in Denver, Colorado. (Denver) you can beat the homeless though

# It is illegal to go in public dressed in clothes "unbecoming" on one's sex. (Durango) Sign in a dress shop: If your clothes are unbecoming to you you should be coming to us.. bwhahahahahaha

# It is illegal for a man to kiss a woman while she is asleep. (Logan County) but my wife prefers it that way!

# Residents may not own chickens, but may own up to three turkeys. (Louisville)

# It is illegal to let a dandelion grow within the city limits. (Pueblo)pot plants are ok though

Sorry if I'm kinda hijacking here, I was going to post a short reply but it got away from me. To see dumb laws in your own state go here:
http://www.bitoffun.com/Stupid_Laws.htm

[Horse with no Name]

31. OT here, but this is one stupid law in Texas

Up to a felony charge can be levied for promoting the use of, or owning more than six dildos.

Hmmm...I think I will remain quiet.:hide:

[Nikki Stone 1]

29. When I taught high school, I had a border of foreign flags

I also had students from at least 10 different countries in any given class.

Is Colorado brain dead????

[Kickoutthejams23]

30. He is a Geography teacher... Principal could not find any

curriculum coming up to support the flags.... :banghead: He is a GEOGRAPHY TEACHER YOU PINHEADED EDUCATIONAL APE :banghead: There I feel better.

[BrightKnight]

33. preparing students to succeed in a global economy

More than half of the people I deal with everyday are NOT in the US. Like it or not companies and economies are increasingly global.

Schools should be teaching cultural sensitivity, foreign language skills, and creativity. Schools in some of the most affluent communities of DFW are taking this very seriously. If Colorado doesn't wise up their economy will be going down the toilet.

[Tsiyu]

35. Colorado: The State that hates the world!!!!!

What kind of freaks wrote this law?

I spent the evening with people from South Africa, Sudan, China, Mexico.......and all over the rest of the world.

I cannot imagine how ignorant the children of Colorado will be if even another nation's flag is cause for paranoia in the schools.

Bizarre beyond comprehension. America just gets dumber and dumber.....

[malaise]

37. This is sick n/t

[B Calm]

38. now if he had burnt those foreign flags, he would been alright!

[SalmonChantedEvening]

39. If anyone sees my jaw, please return it to me.

It dropped when I read this and bounced away.

Holy Dumbasses On Parade, Batman. This is just as foolish as it gets.


:wow:

[seabeyond]

40. i was expecting 2nd grade pe class or something. this is upper school

geography of all places.

my son wants a peace sign tshirt made out of all the flags of the world. if i find it for him and he wears it to school will it be offensive and turned inside out

[proud2BlibKansan]

42. Only if you live in Colorado

:)

[Donald Ian Rankin]

41. Well, if that's the law...

It's clearly absurd, but if the law says that then the blame should be placed on the electorate, not on the school principal who just enforces it.

It's very comforting to blame a "Them", but in practice most problems are at root the fault of the electorate.

[noonwitch]

43. Stupid law, stupid principal, and overall, just ridiculous

Why would anyone care that a geography teacher had foreign flags displayed in his classroom, on a permanent or temporary basis? Geography class is the appropriate place for such a thing.

Lanaguage classes do the same thing, sometimes.

[proud2BlibKansan]

52. Why is the principal stupid?

He is just abiding by the law. We don't know that he lobbied for it to be passed. But I can assure you that if he didn't enforce the law, he could lose his job. That certainly doesn't make him stupid.

[tanyev]

45. One Freeper blames it on the "liberal, nanny state".

But it is still beyond stupid to say that this DECADES OLD practice - of hanging foreign flags in American public schools' Geography classrooms - should be "illegal". This is common sense, and the reaction fits in perfectly with the "zero tolerance" insanity that is pervading our public schools today.

....

Gangster punk with Switchblade knife in boot? Expel him.

Honor students returning butter knife to school band hall? Expel him.

Mexican students hoisting the Mexican flag on the school flagpole? Ban it.

Geography teacher diplaying the flags of the world in the classroom? Ban it.

....

That's the kind of liberal, nanny state thinking that is destroying American public education.

I propose that the principal is the one making a federal case out of this - and not for patriotic reasons. The principal might even be working with the ACLU as well - they have done this kind of thing before.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1688892/posts?q=1&&page=101

Quite a few contortions in that line of thinking. :eyes:

[Kickoutthejams23]

46. Yup.

But he is right about Zero tolerance rules. The abuse of such rules by petty school bureaucrats is legendary.

[donco6]

49. It was the REPUGS that passed this law!

They passed it because kids who supported Mexicans were wearing Mexican flag Tshirts to school, causing the whites to wear US flag shirts, causing clashes and fights. The RW legislature (at the time) went overboard with the law, banning other countries' flags (Mexico in particular). It was a racist thing from the get go - not a Nanny-State issue.

[proud2BlibKansan]

54. It is just repulsive

No educator would have lobbied for this law to be passed. You are right, it is racist.

One more reason to vote for Democrats in November.

[RayOfHope]

60. Unfortunately, I can think of several educators/administrators

in my family that would have lobbied FOR this (which makes me shudder, since one is a principal and the other a superintendent).

[proud2BlibKansan]

53. Does he think the gangster kid with a switchblade

should NOT be expelled?

:rofl:

[walldude]

56. Colorado.. home of Focus On The Family is hardly a liberal

nanny-state. Freepers are demented, the principle working with the ACLU? Freepers are clueless, if anything it'll be the ACLU coming to help the teacher...

[donco6]

50. I think this was all about power stuggle, with a lil' racism . . .

thrown in.

The teacher had the flags - a Mexican, Chinese and US flag displayed. Which shouldn't have even been an issue, and if not for the Mexican flag, probably wouldn't have. But a lot of people here in CO, especially Denver, equate Mexican flags with support for illegals - in fact, there were a few incidents at schools around the area regarding Mexican flags on t-shirts versus US flags on t-shirts which led to fights and whatever. So they passed this dumbass law banning flags (aimed at Mexican flags, but so as not to appear racist, they banned them all.)

So then you have some know-nothing asst. principal who tells the teacher to remove the flags. He doesn't. Principal tells him again. No compliance. Now you have a power struggle, and any sense of right/wrong or just common sense is drowned in the ap's sense of power. So he/she escalates the issue, writes the teacher up. Teacher still doesn't comply because now HE sees it as a constitutional issue. AP then gets the teacher suspended, feeling vindicated that this "insubordinate" teacher has his comeuppance.

What I don't understand is how this could have been approved by the central admin. Usually these types of petty struggles are kept in the bldg. I think the district got some bad legal advice on this one.

[proud2BlibKansan]

55. If it is illegal it is illegal

The administrator would be in trouble if he didn't ask the teacher to take the flags down.

[donco6]

61. I'm not really sure they're interpreting the law right.

Being an administrator, I would normally agree with you regarding "law's the law" types of things. But this particular incident just smacks of something else - I can't imagine there aren't literally HUNDREDS of classrooms across the state with national flags of all stripes. I just think they're taking some really strict interpretation for some reason - maybe there's more to the story between the teacher and administrator - you know how those things go. Could this just be a convenient excuse to dump him? I dunno. What I do know is it's only going to inflame the racial tensions again, just when things were getting back on an even keel.

[proud2BlibKansan]

62. Is this a very large school district?

Article says this is this teacher's first year at this school. It's hard to imagine a VP going after him on only the second day of school. And if the district is very large, chances are the VP didn't even know this teacher before school started.

[donco6]

64. Yes, it's a huge district.

Biggest by far in Colorado. That's a good point. Now I'm leaning more toward the ap just being a racist asshole.

[B Calm]

57. We have a crime family running this country into the dirt and

they are worried about chicken shit stuff like this. It's no freakin' wonder why the rest of the world thinks that we are nuts!!

[verse18]

58. Well, if the principle had problems with a Chinese flag

they should've taken down the US flag, too.:crazy:

[Abies]

59. Update

He's back tomorrow.

"Eric Hamlin, a teacher at Carmody Middle School, will be allowed to keep flags of other nations in his classroom for six weeks at a time, Jeffco Public Schools spokeswoman Lynn Setzer said today."

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_4231655

[Lisa]

65. I just helped my boss land a contract, by doing a report on China ...

... and the socio-environmental issues it will be confronting this century.

If I hadn't trained as a geographer and been exposed to these topics already (and I don't know many geography profs who don't mention China and the Chinese diaspora in their courses at least once a year -- even the physical geographers and hydrologists talk about topics like the Three Gorges Dam and the unique tower karst formations) ... I would never have been able to complete that paper, given that I had less than a week to pull it together.

I had just ordered a DVD copy of the new "China Rises" series as a donation for our public library ... maybe I ought to get another one as a present for my fellow geographer in Colorado. If Mr. Hamelin shows excerpts in class, they can't accuse him of not having curriculum relevant to the flags!