A teacher in Washington was reportedly forced to take down the pro-police flag she hung in her classroom to honor her brother, over claims that it was 'too political.'
'They told her that it's controversial to have that flag up,' Chris Sutherland, the teacher's brother, told The Jason Rantz Show on KTTH. 'That it makes kids and staff feel unsafe, which to me, that does not make sense at all.'
He said his sister, who has not been named, hung the Thin Blue Line flag on her bulletin board to support him, a former police officer with the Marysville Police Department who served as a resource officer during the fatal Marysville-Pilchuck High School shooting in 2014.
The flag in the teacher's room was surrounded with pictures of him.
But soon, administrators at the Marysville School District started to take issue with her flag, and asked her to take it down or face repercussions.
The district, though, reportedly allows banners supporting the Black Lives Matter movement and Pride flags to be hung on district property.
A teacher at a Washington middle school was reportedly asked to take down her Thin Blue Line flag, like the one seen here, that she hung up in her classroom to support her brother
The Marysville School District, though, allows Black Lives Matter and Pride flags to be hung on district property
Sutherland said his sister first had a Thin Blue Line sticker on her laptop, which an assistant principal seemed to take issue with.
In a HR document about the incident, which Rantz obtained, the assistant principal said there were '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.'
The objections were soon dropped, though, and the teacher later posted the flag in her classroom.
Soon, Rantz reports, a second assistant principal ordered the flag to be taken down, an an HR representative for the Marysville School District said in a Letter of Clarification to the teacher that the district was 'highly concerned about the impact of this political symbol on students, staff and families of Marysville Middle School.'
It said the assistant principal 'had heard concerns from other staff members
