Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

CAT Tracks for August 25, 2006 FLAGGED FOR DISPLAY

An observation and a word of advice...

After receiving the CNN breaking news bulletin yesterday that Pluto is no longer a planet...maybe all parties concerned in this dispute should check first to see if these other countries even exist! Maybe the US of A is the only country still around, which would render further argument moot.

On a more serious note...a piece of union advice. The official CAT recommendation for proper member behavior in situations of this sort is to do as your supervisor directs, contact your building rep, and pursue the proper legal remedy...all while remaining on the job. (Actually, if you're a gambler, this guy may well "make out like a bandit" since he has been suspended WITH pay. Unfortunately, you won't know that until it's too late to change your mind!)

Also...whether you have been suspended with or without pay, under no circumstances admit to insubordination (or whatever your "crime") for the benefit of the local media. (Yes, the admission shows rightiousness, commitment to the cause, and models "standing up for your rights" as an educational example for your students. But...it could also get your butt fired! Exercise your other contitutional right...to take the 5th!)

From the Rocky Mountain News...

Geography instructor refused to take down foreign banners at school

By Berny Morson, Rocky Mountain News

A seventh-grade geography teacher at Carmody Middle School in Lakewood was suspended with pay Wednesday after he refused to take down foreign flags displayed in his classroom.

Eric Hamlin, 36, said the flags of China, Mexico and the United Nations were relevant to the unit on the fundamentals of geography he teaches in the first six weeks of the semester.

He's used the same display for most of the nine years he's taught in Jefferson County, Hamlin said.

The 3-foot-by-5-foot nylon flags are in addition to the U.S. flag found in all classrooms.

"Since flags are symbols of a nation and the people who live in that nation, if a flag of a foreign nation in a geography class can't be displayed, and only the U.S. flag can be displayed, we're sending the message that America is number one, everything else is below that," Hamlin said.

Hamlin received a written reprimand Tuesday. Principal John Schalk escorted Hamlin from the building when the flags were still up on Wednesday morning.

Schalk referred questions to Jefferson County Schools spokeswoman Lynn Setzer.

Setzer said Schalk believed Hamlin was in violation of a state law barring display of foreign flags on public property.

Schalk interprets the law as allowing display of foreign flags as part of a specific lesson, but not for the duration of a six-week unit, Setzer said.

Superintendent Cindy Stevenson said Hamlin could have removed the flags, then appealed the principal's decision to higher administrators. By refusing to remove the flags, Hamlin was insubordinate, Stevenson said.

"He defied a direct, reasonable request from a principal. That's what's at issue here," Stevenson said.

Stevenson said it's possible Hamlin and the district could work out an agreement short of firing Hamlin.

Hamlin said, "There's no question I was insubordinate . . . I did directly tell my principal that I would not follow what he told me that I had to do.

"It's the background, the basis of what he told me to do that I disagree with," he said.

Hamlin did, in fact, remove the flags before he was escorted from the building. He put them in a file cabinet rather than let the custodian store them.

Whether Hamlin was actually in violation of a state law is another matter.

The 2002 law bars the display of foreign flags on state buildings. Among the exceptions are foreign flags used as "part of a temporary display of any instructional or historical materials not permanently affixed or attached to any part of the buildings or grounds . . .."

Mark Silverstein, the legal director of the Colorado chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said that exception would appear to cover Hamlin's display.

Hamlin said he's begun drafting a written request for ACLU representation.

"We'll read the letter and decide what action, if any, to take," Silverstein said.

Hamlin has more than 50 flags that he uses during the course of the year.