Teacher suspended for displaying Nazi flag in classroom
A student photographed the Nazi flag amid other historical German flags.
In response to the display of a Nazi flag in their classroom, a Rio Americano teacher has been placed on administrative leave while the district conducts an investigation into the matter.
After students created an Instagram account to draw attention to the issue, the flag was taken down and administration has announced the creation of an equity team on campus, comprised of students, parents and staff, in order to educated students in a safe and inclusive manner.
The teacher’s union, school district and site administration have denounced the use of the flag.
“While images and symbols representative of hate may be used in textbooks and resource materials to provide historical context, displaying a flag with a swastika in such an egregious manner was unnecessary and created an unsafe environment for students,” said Principal Brian Ginter in a May 19 announcement sent out to students.
In response to the incident, administration is pulling together resources and materials for teaching staff to use in order to have appropriate conversations in their classrooms with students on the matter.
“The teacher in this instance has used flags from Nazi Germany as an instructional aid in past years as part of classroom lessons,” said Ginter. “Site administration has previously expressed concerns to the teacher related to this practice and it is not reflective of where we are as a school community.”
As staff evaluates curriculum standards and further investigates the teacher’s use of the flag for instruction, the school has taken a clear stand against the use of such flag in this context.
“Our focus when teaching lessons grounded in history is to provide historically accurate content in a safe and inclusive environment for students,” said Ginter. “In this particular instance, it is not wrong to have conversations about propaganda tactics in Nazi Germany, but there is a better way to do so without prominently displaying a symbol of hate in the classroom.”
The full statements released by the school can be viewed here. More information to come.
Nithin • Mar 16, 2022 at 6:55 PM
This is quite frankly ridiculous. The teacher in question had probably hundreds of flags up of many many countries, both existing and historic. They did not “teach nazi propaganda” and was not in any way supporting Nazi Germany or propaganda at all. Having a flag, while perhaps maybe in poor taste, and I think it is highly unlikely that this was malicious or of the intention to hurt people.
Nithin • Mar 16, 2022 at 6:58 PM
Though I think that if the teacher was asked by students to take the flag down the teacher should have
GraceAnn Lesser • Jun 8, 2021 at 1:58 PM
I agree that the teacher should face repercussions, perhaps even stronger ones than administrative leave. When a symbol of hatred is shown in a textbook or slideshow, the context is educational, however displaying it on a flag seems to glorify it. Whether or not this was the teacher’s intention, he should have listened to students who said that it made them feel uncomfortable.
Nikhil Patel • Jun 1, 2021 at 7:46 PM
I absolutely agree with Mr. Ginter that teaching history of Nazi propaganda is not necessarily a bad thing. Nonetheless, putting up such a strong symbol of hatred and disrespect up in the classroom was absolutely unacceptable. There were better ways to go about teaching this particular aspect of history. It is shocking that this issue has been prominent for years, yet action was only taken recently to discipline the teacher. Considering the fact that the teacher was told multiple times about the issue, the teacher should be facing more severe consequences.
Breanna Borja • May 31, 2021 at 11:59 PM
I thought this article was very well written and i’m glad that there is no transparency with this matter, teachers should be setting an example.
Mikhayla O'Kelley • May 31, 2021 at 11:45 PM
The article was very informative and seemed fairly nonbiased. the whole issue seemed like something that should have been common sense not to do and should have been caught and dealt with sooner.
Mason Ready • May 31, 2021 at 6:56 PM
I think that the whole context of the situation was represented well here. When I first heard about it on local news there was little to no context given. Great job.
Maribel Arenas • May 31, 2021 at 5:37 PM
This is a well-written article and very informative.
Abigail f • May 31, 2021 at 5:12 PM
Although many students were very disturbed and uncomfortable with the symbol hanging in the classroom, I think it’s very damaging to avoid things that make us uncomfortable. Obviously hanging the flag in the classroom was not to way to go as it seemed to be a decoration or something to worship such as our own flag, but the flag and many other symbols for hatred in our history *should* make us disturbed, which I think many people have recently forgotten about and resorted to avoiding the topic or thought completely and I think that could definitely be something to worry about.
Zane • May 31, 2021 at 2:51 PM
Hanging a symbol of hate in your classroom does more to normalize that symbol than it does to educate about it.
maddie bister • May 31, 2021 at 11:59 AM
I personally believe that the decision was not as harsh as it should have been. I agree with Alex Bornino, that this teacher should have changed schools or not even be aloud back at a school.
David Bogle • May 30, 2021 at 11:54 AM
This is a very well written article, I didn’t realize the extent of the teacher’s actions. Seeing the photo of the flag hanging in a classroom at this school is sickening. Administrative leave is a good first step but it would be unwise to keep him at this school, at least until he’s gone through several programs about hate symbols and speech. It must be made clear that this behavior is unacceptable at this school.
kyla • May 28, 2021 at 10:43 AM
This was a very well written article that clearly displayed everything that happened, without opinion or bias.
Darya Pahlavan • May 27, 2021 at 2:08 PM
This was a great non-biased informative article. I am glad the teacher is finally facing repercussions.
Alex Bornino • May 27, 2021 at 9:49 AM
I am disgusted it took this long for action and awareness on this teacher’s ignorant and harmful actions. He should at the very least be moved to a new school and be forced to attend classes on Jewish history and other classes to teach him other ways of thinking. My heart goes out to everyone affected by this man because it seems he still has no remorse considering I’ve seen no apology statement.
Emma Sandow • May 24, 2021 at 7:14 PM
I think administrative leave doesn’t seem like enough.
Kara Halligan • May 23, 2021 at 9:03 PM
That flag should never have been hung up in the first place, I’m glad the district is taking action on the matter. A classroom is supposed to be a safe environment for students to learn in, a symbol of hate such as the one on the flag should never be put on display the way it was. I feel for those who were made uncomfortable or triggered by the situation.
Jae Yeon Lee • May 23, 2021 at 8:07 PM
It’s awesome that students came together in order to bring attention to a very serious issue. I completely agree with Mr. Ginter’s statement that the flag has no reason to be in a classroom.
Josh Zezzo • May 23, 2021 at 8:05 PM
Very good, informative article
Matthew Beilby • May 23, 2021 at 6:18 PM
I do not think the teacher should be put on administrative leave while the case is being investigated. That is practically a payed vacation which seems like a reward. He needs to at least be suspended and form an apology for displaying a sign of such hate in the classroom.
lauryn r • May 23, 2021 at 1:20 PM
I still don’t really know why he had it up if he only had one history class. On top of that, knowing that this can make other students uncomfortable to even traumatized. This is a symbol of hatred and it shouldn’t matter if it is historical or not.
Taylor W • May 23, 2021 at 8:59 AM
I thought that this article was informative and covered the situation really well.
Daniel Norris • May 21, 2021 at 8:31 AM
I think that the decision by the district to put the teacher on administrative leave is correct. Use of the Nazi flag in a teaching scenario is not automatically a bad thing. However, the most it should be used is a slide in a presentation or in a textbook. Everybody knows what the flag looks like. When you hang it on the wall it stops being educational material and becomes decoration. Its especially bad because students asked him to take it down because it made them uncomfortable and he refused. Even if the teacher was not attempting to be anti-semetic with his use of the flag, his actions are still questionable and it was right for the district to put him on leave for now.
Ali • May 20, 2021 at 7:25 AM
I believe that the teacher should’ve been evacuated right away when he did his first action with that nazi flag , no matter what religion you tend to believe in or your believes you shouldn’t bring a symbolic of hate to a school, I think that’s just the number one no right there I would’ve personally think that the teacher shouldn’t return to rio even tho it’s his freedom of speech it’s his right that he can do whatever he wants but there’s rules on everything you do and where at to.