A neighborhood college district pressured a center college trainer to take away a pro-police flag from her classroom wall. But the district allows Black Lives Matter and LGBT messages to be displayed.
The trainer at Marysville Middle School posted a Thin Blue Line flag in her classroom. It was meant to help the police. But in keeping with paperwork obtained by the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH, the district’s human sources stated the flag is a “political symbol” that would elicit a “disruption” within the classroom. She was ordered to take it down.
But why are BLM and LGBT shows allowed to remain up? While the district refuses to reply, the trainer’s brother says college employees indicated anti-police sentiment knowledgeable the choice.
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Marysville college district says no to pro-police flag
The trainer is supportive of legislation enforcement. Her brother, Chris Sutherland, is a former officer with the Marysville Police Department. He was additionally a college useful resource officer through the lethal Marysville Pilchuck High School taking pictures.
The trainer first positioned a Thin Blue Line sticker on her laptop computer to honor her brother and different legislation enforcement officers. The picture is a logo of help for the work of law enforcement officials to maintain communities protected.
At the time, an assistant principal objected to the sticker.
According to an HR doc on the incident, she alerted the trainer to “concerns about how students, families, and community members might interpret what the image is intending to communicate, and that this interpretation may cause a disruption to the learning environment.”
But the trainer says the objections have been quickly dropped.
Shortly after, the HR doc says the trainer displayed a Thin Blue Line flag on her classroom’s bulletin board. She posted pictures of her brother across the flag. Then, a second assistant principal ordered her to take the flag down.
“They told her that it’s controversial to have that flag up. That it makes kids and staff feel unsafe, which to me, that does not make sense at all,” Sutherland defined on the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH.
HR was ‘highly concerned’ in regards to the pro-police message
A district HR consultant despatched the trainer a Letter of Clarification in regards to the conduct.
In addition to issues over how some may interpret the pro-police sticker and flag, the HR consultant stated the district was “highly concerned about the impact of this political symbol on students, staff, and families of Marysville Middle School.” It says an assistant principal “had heard concerns from other staff members about how this political symbol might negatively impact the overall professional work environment.”
The doc doesn’t specific what the priority could be or why it might exist within the first place. But it did order the removing of the flag and demanded the trainer “refrain from using the ‘Thin Blue Line Flag’ symbol” within the classroom.
If the trainer didn’t abide by the principles, it “may result in further disciplinary action.”
In a press release to the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH, the district confirmed this incident is taken into account a personnel matter and wouldn’t remark.
And whereas the Letter of Clarification stated the district helps police, a district spokesperson refused to elucidate why a Thin Blue Line flag is political. While the pro-police flag is banned, the college permits political expression that’s crucial of police.
BLM and LGBT messages are given a move
Sutherland explains that his sister has seen BLM messages displayed in school rooms.
“There’s also, she was telling me, BLM stuff hanging on walls, which she was told is OK. Just for whatever reason, just the Thin Blue Line flag cannot be hung up there,” Sutherland defined.
That’s not all. This particular trainer additionally displayed an LGBT pleasure flag to help a homosexual member of the family.
The district refuses to elucidate why BLM and LGBT messages are permitted, but not a Thin Blue Line image.
BLM is a political motion that advocates explicitly for coverage prescriptions to perceived issues. A Thin Blue Line image doesn’t make any explicit political agenda.
And the LGBT pleasure flag has additionally been used as an express political image to advance civil rights. A Thin Blue Line image merely expresses help for legislation enforcement.
The district refuses to elucidate why these two messages are permitted, but not one which helps police.
Teacher vows to combat on
The trainer reluctantly eliminated the show from the bulletin board. In an HR doc, she says the state of affairs “has been the most traumatic and hostile” expertise on the college up to now.
“I was proud to come back as a Marysville Alumni and begin teaching here in 2014. I remain hopeful for the remainder of the school year,” she wrote in response to the HR consultant.
She defined that the choice to tug the flag got here from “an agenda rather than really wanting to gain any understanding of me, who I am, or my story.”
It’s a sense her brother says he feels when he talks to her.
“It’s hurtful because I can hear in her voice how much it actually hurts her being told to [take down the flag],” Sutherland stated. “So when [she] and I talk about it, back and forth, it’s frustrating because I know how much she cares and how much this means to her. For her to have to go through that, … it’s just not fair.”
Sutherland says his sister will proceed to push the problem so she will be able to as soon as once more show the flag with out fearing termination consequently. But as she offers with this ordeal, she says she forgives the college for his or her sleight. But she advised the HR consultant that the incident “left a lasting impression.”
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