The California teacher who said in a video she suggested her students say the Pledge of Allegiance to the gay pride flag has been removed from her classroom.
“She has been removed from the classroom and placed on administrative leave, as our investigation continues,” Newport Mesa Schools spokesperson Annette Franco told Fox News on Wednesday.
The video showed the teacher, identified as Kristin Pitzen, telling followers how students said the pledge in her classroom.
“Okay, so during third period, we have announcements and they do the Pledge of Allegiance,” she explained in the clip. “I always tell my class, stand if you feel like it, don’t stand if you feel like it, say the words if you want, don’t have to say the words”:
Pitzen said her room did not have an American flag and she “took it down during COVID because it made [her] uncomfortable”:
WARMINSTER, PA – MARCH 24: First graders at Longstreth Elementary School pledge allegiance to the flag March 24, 2004 in Warminster, Pennsylvania. An atheist parent, Michael Newdow, of Sacramento, California is scheduled to be heard by the Supreme Court today to defend his position that the “Under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional. If the Supreme Court upholds and expands their original ruling, which affected western states, all U.S. children will be affected (Photo by William Thomas Cain/Getty Images).
When a student said it was “kinda weird” they stood and said the Pledge to nothing, Pitzen noted, “In the meantime, I tell this kid, ‘We do have a flag in the class that you can pledge your allegiance to,’ and he like, looks around and goes, ‘Oh, that one?'”
She then pointed to a rainbow flag hanging on the wall.
In a Facebook post on Saturday, the Newport-Mesa Unified School District said, “Showing respect for our nation’s flag is an important value our District instills in our students and is an expectation of our employees.”
“We take this matter seriously and the teacher is on administrative leave,” the post continued:
On Friday evening, one of our teachers created a personal social media post that caused alarm and concern related to…
Posted by Newport-Mesa Unified School District – NMUSD on Saturday, August 28, 2021
Facebook users voiced their opinions on the matter, one person writing, “Students should never know your political views. She needs to be relieved of her access to ‘indoctrinating’… I mean, teaching students.”
“Maybe she should sit with a grieving family who just lost their son or daughter to understand what the flag meant to them,” the user added.
“There shouldn’t be a question in this matter. This teacher should be fired immediately. Children do not need this exposure and need to be taught to respect our flag. Fire Kristen Pitzen! Children have rights!” another commented.
On Monday, a group of parents gathered outside Pitzen’s school to protest the video, according to the Fox report.
“I just could not believe how ignorant she seemed to be,” a parent named Stephanie Cox commented.
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