A California teacher is being investigated for saying she removed the US flag from her classroom and encouraged students to instead pledge allegiance to a gay pride banner, district officials said.
The teacher, identified in reports as Kristin Pitzen, said in video shared Friday on Twitter by the “Libs of TikTok” that her students have options as they recite the Pledge of Allegiance during her third-period English class.
“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, you don’t have to say the words,” Pitzen said in the viral TikTok post. “So my class decided to stand, but not say the words. Totally fine.”
But that became an issue since the teacher’s classroom did not have a US flag, which she removed during the pandemic because it made her “feel uncomfortable,” Pitzen whispered on the clip.
“I packed it away and I don’t know where, and I haven’t found it yet,” a giggling Pitzen continued. “But my kid today goes, ‘Hey, um, it’s kinda weird that we just stand and then, you know, we say it to nothing.’ And I’m like, ‘Oh well, you know, I gotta find it, like, I’m working on it, I got you.”