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Rekna · 08-22-2006, 06:44 AM

This Kentucky 7th grade teacher is teaching about free speech and decides that burning two flags during class is a good way to demonstrate it. However, some students and parents get upset about it and now he is forced to resign. The article states that burning the flag was not politically motivated and instead was just an illustration for the students. Obviously it is everyones right to be upset about this or upset about people being upset about this but the big question is did the teacher do anything wrong. I believe the teacher did a very risky thing but illustrated a great point and now his point is being driven home by people. Personally I think it was quite clever and he shouldn't be fired for it. However, I hope he burned them outside or at least had saftey equipment around to show that he wasn't placing the children and the school at risk.

Quote:

Kentucky Teacher Reassigned After Burning Flags During Civics Lesson
Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Old Glory Still Stirs Passion, Shows Power to Unite as Well as Divide
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A middle school teacher in Louisville has been removed from the classroom after burning two American flags in class as part of a civics lesson.

Dan Holden, a seventh-grade social studies teacher at Stuart Middle School, burned two flags Friday as part of a lesson on freedom of speech, said Jefferson County schools spokeswoman Lauren Roberts said.

The students were asked to write an opinion paper on the flag burning, Roberts said.

Holden, a teacher in the school district since 1979, has been reassigned to non-instructional duties while the incident is under investigation.

Roberts said the flag burning did not appear to be politically motivated, based on an interview with Holden.

The district also alerted city fire officials.

"Certainly we're concerned about the safety aspect," Roberts said, along with "the judgment of using that type of demonstration in a class."

Pat Summers, whose daughter was in Holden's class, told The Courier-Journal of Louisville that more than 20 parents showed up at the school Monday, upset over the incident. Click here to read the Courier-Journal story.

(Story continues below)

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"She said, 'Our teacher burned a flag.' I'm like, 'What?"' Summers said.

Brent McKim, president of the Jefferson County Teachers Association, said Holden has "been teaching for many years, and has by all accounts a good teaching record. It was not a political statement and was meant to illustrate a controversial issue. To fire someone because of that would be inappropriate," he said. "It wasn't like he was taking one side or another."

An attempt to pass a constitutional amendment prohibiting flag burning failed in the U.S. Senate earlier this year.

Beth Wilson, director of Kentucky's American Civil Liberties Union, said the school district is allowed to decide what's instructionally appropriate.

But "if a school is masking their objections to flag burning under the guise of safety, it raises questions about freedom of speech and academic freedom," she said. She said the ACLU would monitor the case but is not involved at this point.

Stuart sixth-grader Kelsey Adwell, 11, said students were abuzz about the incident on Monday.

"They just can't believe that a teacher would do that — burn two American flags in front of the class," she said. "A teacher shouldn't do that, even though it was an example."