Geography teacher reprimanded for... teaching

A geography teacher was reprimanded and put on paid leave after hanging up foreign flags:

Eric Hamlin said the flags were part of a world geography lesson plan at Carmody Middle School and refused to take them down. The school's principal escorted Hamlin out of class Wednesday morning after he refused to remove the flags of China and Mexico.The school district placed him on administrative leave for insubordination, citing a Colorado law that makes it illegal to display foreign flags permanently in schools.

He has now decided to leave the school, saying the issue has divided the community. Apparently Colorado has a law:

District officials feared Hamlin's display violated a state law prohibiting the display of any flag but the American, Colorado or local flags on public buildings, including schools. Temporary displays for instructional or historical purposes are exempt, but the school principal did not consider Hamlin's display temporary enough.

Hamlin however has stated that he was just doing his job:

"It's much along the lines of a science teacher who puts up a map of the solar system. They may not spend every day and every lesson talking about Mars, but they want the students to see that and to see the patterns of the planets and the order, and the students will observe that and absorb that learning visually," Hamlin said.Hamlin said that the school district is not only depriving him of a teaching tool but also taking away from his students' education."The major problem I see here is with the law that limits educators," Hamlin said.

Some commentators tried to make this out to be part of a leftist plot. Meanwhile comments on the local TV news station bulletin were largely in favor of Hamlin:

"Our daughter was in Mr. Hamlin's 7th grade class last year. Mr. Hamlin is one of the best teachers our family has ever encountered. He does not have a right or left wing agenda, but a desire to educate 7th graders. He is very knowledgable in the subject matter that he teaches and highly skilled and effective as a teacher. The fact that there is a law like this is wrong. The school is wrong for standing by this "letter of the law" type argument. Let him teach, the kids will be better for it."