A high school teacher in Northern California threatened to kick a student out of a virtual online chemistry class if he did not remove a “Trump 2020” campaign flag he had on his bedroom wall from camera view.
Even though he refused to remove his Trump flag, the 16-year-old Colusa Trump supporter left the Zoom chemistry class before his teacher had the chance to remove him.
According to his mother, her son was working from his bedroom where the Trump flag had been pinned to the wall for over a year. The incident was caught on video by another student in the online class who took a recording of the virtual classroom, showing the teacher counting to 15…his warning to remove the flag or leave his high school chemistry class.
“With the distance learning we are all forced to do because of the new color chart, the school district has not addressed the students’ rights in their own home to the teachers or to us as parents,” his mother Tiffany said via email.
While the parents of the student have no issue with anything their son did, they do however, have growing frustrations about Colusa High School’s policies since the school moved to all-distance learning.
Since the California school district has not announced clear guidelines for distance learning that refer to students’ backgrounds in online classes, Tiffany wants the district to be clearer on their stance.
When asked for a comment about the situation, a Colusa High School employee referred reporters to the code of conduct for the school. It is noted that requests for comment were not immediately returned from Colusa High School, the Colusa Unified School District (Colusa USD), or the Colusa County Office of Education.
“The Governing Board believes that free inquiry and exchange of ideas are essential parts of a democratic education,” is what the Colusa Unified School District student handbook says about free speech. “The Board respects students’ rights to express ideas and opinions, take stands on issues, and support causes, even when such speech is controversial or unpopular.”
In addition, the high school’s policies allow students the right to free speech, which includes allowing them to wear buttons, badgers, and other insignia. The policy does ban the use of fighting words and any “expressions” that are obscene, libelous, or slanderous, though.
Sounds like the Trump flag falls right into the category of acceptable items to display under their freedom of speech rights, as it simply has a name, year, and a positive saying – “Keep America Great” on it.
California is still a part of America, yes? What is the problem?
Watch local coverage of the incident below.
