A Teacher Mocking the American Flag Goes Viral
Social Media Narcissism May Cost a Teacher Her Job
Draped in American flags, thirteen coffins carrying the remains of American heroes were solemnly removed from a military aircraft at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Sunday.
These young American men and women made the ultimate sacrifice while defending their country and innocent Afghans who were fleeing a brutal regime and its medieval beliefs.
Halfway around the world from where the troops fell, a teacher has gone viral mocking the flag that honored and was honored by these heroic U.S. forces.
Kristen Pitzen, a teacher with the Newport-Mesa Unified School District in Southern California’s Orange County, posted a video that is seriously offensive, both in what she said and how she said it.
Pitzen begins by describing, from her classroom, how her students stand for the Pledge of Allegiance during third period. The following is a transcript of her video with some of my commentary interspersed.
Pitzen says: “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. So my class decided to stand but not say the words, totally fine.”
While many may not like Pitzen's attitude, so far, she’s on solid legal ground. In West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, the Supreme Court ruled that schools cannot force students to salute the U.S. flag or recite the Pledge because doing so would violate their First Amendment rights.
Pitzen, now giggling, continues, explaining her classroom does not have an American flag to which students can (or cannot) pledge allegiance: “Except for the fact that my room does not have a flag. It used to be there. But I took it down during COVID because {she coyly whispers} it made me uncomfortable. And, um, I packed it away, and I don’t know where, and I haven’t found it yet {she giggles again}. But my kid today goes, ‘It’s kind of weird that we just stand and then we say it to nothing.’”
So, do they recite it or not? You might want to keep your story straight, Ms. Pitzen.
The teacher then goes on, describing how she lied to the student: “And I’m like, ‘Oh well, I’ve got to find it. I’m working on it, I’ve got you.’”
At this point, she cracks up and mouths silently that she's doing no such thing.
Pitzen is still not done, saying: “In the meantime, I tell this kid, we do have a flag in the class that you can pledge your allegiance to. He looks around and he goes, oh that one?”
Laughing, she ends the video showing how the classroom has a gay pride flag prominently displayed.
As you can imagine, a firestorm ensued over the weekend that forced the school district to respond.
On Facebook, it posted: “On Friday evening, one of our teachers created a personal social media post that caused alarm and concern related to saluting the American flag. 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 are investigating and addressing it.”
Even though some people found Pitzen’s comments amusing and said they'd like her to teach their kids, social media reaction was overwhelmingly negative, with loud calls for the school district to fire her.
Are those calls on firm legal ground?
We will have to wait and see what the school district’s specific rules are on this kind of behavior, but most schools and districts have policies that require teachers to be politically neutral in the classroom.
On the other hand, it’s clear that teachers have the right to talk about politics or other controversial topics outside the classroom and on social media. But that right is far from absolute.
In Pickering v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court ruled in 1968 that teachers don’t forfeit their First Amendment rights and are allowed to weigh in publicly on issues of public importance. Pickering and other court cases have focused on the exercise of First Amendment rights outside school.
Still, the so-called "Pickering test" calls for courts to balance a teacher’s constitutional free speech rights and interest in commenting on matters of public concern with a school’s interest in operating effectively and efficiently.
In simpler terms, if teachers say something so inflammatory in public or on social media that impacts their ability to educate students, they’re in trouble.
The Pickering case is not likely to help Pitzen.
First, she specifically admits to violating political neutrality in the classroom itself. She hid the American flag from kids and suggested they pledge allegiance to a different flag.
Achieving pure political neutrality is impossible, but certainly something that should be aspired to. In Pitzen’s case, no effort was made.
Teachers should not cross the line between education and activism, something Pitzen did multiple times in mocking the American flag. To those who might support what she did, would it have been OK for her to wear a MAGA hat or praise the Capitol rioters?
Second, her public comments on the video have already caused such an uproar that they will not only impact her ability to educate, they may disrupt the whole school district. Newport-Mesa now has to deal with another major controversy when it was already struggling with the beginning of the school year amid a pandemic surge and debates over mask mandates.
To conclude, Pitzen’s video crossed every line imaginable by hiding and ridiculing the American flag with a clear political agenda.
While some on the right are upset about her promotion of gay pride, that is, to some extent, a red herring. LGBTQ individuals have rights enshrined in U.S. law and respect for those rights should be taught in schools. Educating children to understand that all discrimination based on race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, and sexual orientation is unacceptable should be a part of the curriculum at all schools.
Pitzen has the right to her opinion. She does not have the right to violate school rules. She does not have the right to ignore the values of American public schools in educating her students, nor to impose her political agenda. She also has no right to disrupt her classes by making inflammatory comments in the public arena.
Morally, she was wrong to ridicule the ultimate symbol of her country, at a time when so many are risking their lives to defend that flag. She also disrespected her students.
On top of all that, Pitzen provided more ammunition for conservative critics of teachers.
What was Pitzen thinking? Lost in social media narcissism and probably living in a woke echo chamber of like-minded people, she probably wasn't thinking at all.
She has since cancelled her TikTok account. What remains to be seen is whether the school district will cancel her as a teacher.
UPDATE: Newsweek is reporting that the school district confirmed Pitzen "is no longer instructing classes while the district continues to investigate the incident." To be clear, I was not advocating that Pitzen be fired. That's up to the school district, its rules, and its investigation. While accountability is important, I believe in second chances if someone expresses contrition and promises to avoid offensive behavior in the future.
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The cover photo was taken by me from the video posted by Kristen Pitzen.