Thursday, August 24, 2006
An Undeserved Suspension
Does it make sense that a man who teaches geography might use flags displayed in a classroom as a way to aid and supplement his lessons? Sure does. Does it make sense that that man should then be suspended for refusing to remove the flags because they might violate state law against displaying foreign flags in public buildings? Sure doesn’t. Yet, a teacher, Eric Hamlin, was suspended here in Colorado just for that reason after his principal, convinced that the display violated Colorado law, ordered the flags to be removed.
Firstly, the principal that ordered the removal of the flags was wrong: Colorado state law allows temporary displays of foreign flags for educational purposes. Secondly, kids should be introduced to the flags of the world and the symbolism that informs their designs.
Hamlin was actually suspended for insubordination--for refusing a reasonable request from a superior. It is debatable whether this was a reasonable request, but there is little question in my mind that Hamlin didn’t earn a suspension (and potential firing) for using foreign flags as teaching aids. There may be other problems with the content of Hamlin’s classes and previous disciplinary issues that influenced the principal’s decisions. The details in the Rocky, though, don’t appear to support the suspension.
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And in rides the ACLU, from what I can read between the lines. Finally, a case involving the ACLU that does not involve school prayer.
I wonder what the standard-bearers over at Stop The ACLU would think about this one.
And he’s already going back to the classroom. I wonder how much bad publicity this generated for the district?
I wonder what the standard-bearers over at Stop The ACLU would think about this one.
They would claim this “is one of those rare cases they take so they can say ‘Hey, we’re the good guys!’”
I don’t always agree with the ACLU, but they’re right more often than I think they are wrong. The folks at Stop the ACLU are little but partisan hacks, less popular Ann Coulters (but probably prettier).
P.S. He’s been reinstated.
It’s a good thing that all the other problems in our schools have been resolved so effectively that they can spend time on critical issues like this.
Recently as part of putting together a homeschool unit study on geography, I visited one of my favorite sites to gather information on various countries, including coloring pages of their flags. Now, although I’m a highly educated person as a cou...
Some laws are real strange! I have to check my own laws here about displaying flags in a classroom!
Hamlin was just being a good teacher; he shouldn’t have been suspended. That was just over-reacting!
It is valid to ask why our schools have time to get excited about this issue when they are doing such a poor job of teaching our children.
But the other side of the question is, how can a principal discipline his teaching staff when we turn discipline issues into public debates? So maybe the question is why do the media spend time on trivial issues like this when there is important news?