“Why are parents turning their kids over to someone they don’t know? I’d like to talk to people who think this is good?!?”įollowing the outcry, the Newport-Mesa Unified School District where, Pitzen is an English-as-a-second-language teacher, announced that she had been removed from her classroom while it conducts an investigation. “What kind of parent would allow their child to be taught by this wacko?” he tweeted. ambassador to Germany under the Trump administration, weighed in as well. One person who weighed in called Pitzen an “indoctrinator with an ungodly social agenda,” while another said, “I’ll chip in for a one-way ticket to Afghanistan if she promises to leave the USA immediately.” Richard Grenell, a gay man who was U.S. “I pledge allegiance to the queers,” the teacher says in the video.The vitriol led to Pitzen deleting all her social media accounts. In another since-deleted TikTok video, Pitzen brags about all of the LGBTQ pride flags she put up in her classroom. The video went viral, prompting comments from thousands who believe the teacher is not patriotic, including former acting director of national intelligence Richard Grenell, who wrote, “What kind of parent would allow their child to be taught by this wacko? Why are parents turning their kids over to someone they don’t know? I’d like to talk to people who think this is good?!?”Īfter the story went viral online, local residents have placed dozens of miniature American flags and a few gay pride flags on the school grounds. When one of her students asked what they should do during the Pledge of Allegiance, she replied, “In the meantime, I tell this kid, ‘We do have a flag in the class that you can pledge your allegiance to.’ And he like, looks around and goes, ‘Oh, that one?'” She then pointed to the gay pride flag hanging on the wall of the classroom. “I packed it away and I don’t know where, and I haven’t found it yet,” she said while giggling.
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Pitzen explained that she removed the American flag from her classroom during the pandemic because “it made me uncomfortable.” “Except for the fact that my room does not have a flag.” “So, my class decided to stand but not say the words. “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.'” “OK, so during third period, we have announcements and they do the Pledge of Allegiance,” Pitzen says in the video. The video went viral and has been viewed over 1.6 million times, and the tweet has nearly 6,000 Likes. Pitzen recently deleted her TikTok account, but it was too late, as the account saved the controversial video and posted it online. “But individuals may choose not to participate in the flag salute for personal reasons.” “The school district’s policy requires that each school conducts daily patriotic exercises, including the pledge of allegiance, with an understanding that the pledge is an expression of patriotism and pride in the U.S.,” KTLA reported. “We follow due process and our investigation continues.”
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“The teacher is no longer in the classroom,” the spokesperson said.
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“I assure you, we take matters like this seriously and will be taking action to address it.” “Showing respect for our nation’s flag is an important value that we instill in our students and an expectation of our employees,” Franco continued. “We are aware that one of our teachers posted a video on their personal social media that caused alarm and concern related to saluting the American flag,” Annette Franco, a spokesperson for the Newport Mesa Unified School District, said. Pitzen has been placed on administrative leave, according to the school district. Pitzen recently posted a video on TikTok, where she revealed that she removed the American flag from her classroom in Orange County because it made her feel “uncomfortable.” Kristin Pitzen, the California schoolteacher who posted a video to social media of herself instructing students to pledge allegiance to the gay pride flag, has been removed from the classroom.