Salinas schoolroom flag flap may be baseless
Superintendent defends his patriotism
By MIKE HORNICK
mhornick@thecalifornian.com
May 12, 2010
Hundreds of e-mails to the Santa Rita Union School District in Salinas questioning the patriotism of educators over an art project with American flags and symbols "jumped the gun," Mike Brusa, the district's superintendent, said Tuesday.
Many were offensive, he said.
The messages came this week in response to an April 22 incident in which Peggy Saunders, a Gavilan View Middle School teacher, objected to seventh-grader Taryn Hathaway's rendering of the flag under the words "God bless America." Flags have been a nationwide hot topic over the past few weeks, as the waving of Mexican flags in celebration of Cinco de Mayo kept often-fierce concerns about immigration in the public eye.
Saunders was out on sick leave Tuesday and unavailable for comment. The cause and nature of her objection will soon be determined, Brusa said, but the firestorm that broke out after Fox News picked up the story may be baseless.
"If something wrong was done to the student, we'll get to the bottom of that," Brusa said. "But it may have been they were working on the Yellow Ribbon project, which sends care packages to military in war zones. One of the requirements is that there is no writing on the flags. If that's the case, then there's been a huge misunderstanding here and a lot of needless turmoil and grief."
Reasons for prohibiting writing on a flag — on any topic — involve awareness of other cultures and of U.S. soldiers, Brusa said.
"If you have a flag with 'God bless America' over it in the middle of Iraq, or you're sending it to soldiers who aren't Christians, it could be a problem," he said.
Gavilan View Middle School Principal John Gutierrez did not return a call Tuesday afternoon to The Salinas Californian.
The student and her mother, Tracy Hathaway, described the incident Tuesday on The Sean Hannity Show on Fox News.
"She [Saunders] walked up to me and said it was offensive," Taryn Hathaway told Hannity. "I asked why and she just walked away not telling me why." To a student who had drawn a picture of President Barack Obama, Saunders — according to Hathaway — said: "Thank you for supporting our country."
No description was given of other students' art projects.
"All we're looking for is an apology," Tracy Hathaway told The Salinas Californian. "We're not looking for the teacher to be fired."
One of Brusa's e-mails came from someone describing himself as a Vietnam War veteran. It says in part: "You should fire the teacher who has a problem with the U.S. flag. Where is your patriotism? If you don't like the flag, get out of my country."
Brusa replied to the e-mail with a brief message and two photos of his son, Sgt. John Brusa, 23, who has been serving in Afghanistan for the past year with the Army's 82nd Airborne Division. Framed versions of the photos rest on the superintendent's office wall.
"The gentleman apologized," Brusa said.
"This upset me because I don't need to be lectured about patriotism," he said. "We're getting the reaction of people who don't know all the facts. They know a few facts and fire off an e-mail. What's most disturbing is that something as wonderful as the Internet can be used as a virtual mob."
The classroom incident appeared to be resolved, Brusa said, in April in a meeting between the Hathaways, a Gavilan View assistant principal and Saunders. The school heard no more of it, he said, until after May 5 — Cinco de Mayo.
On that day in Morgan Hill, five Live Oak High School students were asked to go home after they wore clothes bearing images of the flag. In a statement, the school district said that while awareness of other cultures is appropriate on Cinco de Mayo, it did not support the high school's action.
The episode drew widespread media attention and — according to Brusa — resurfaced in the Gavilan View classroom incident.
"As soon as the [Morgan Hill] story hit," he said, "the parent thought this was kind of similar and decided to Twitter Fox News, and that's where this all started.
"I want to make sure a great district is not dragged through the mud through what may be a colossal misunderstanding. Do we want to solve this problem or do something else? You allow people to work it out at the lowest level you can and then work your way up. That wasn't done. It was at Gavilan View, then it was on Fox News."
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