A North Carolina high school teacher has been placed on paid administrative leave after stomping on a flag in his classroom while teaching students about the First Amendment.

The Fayetteville Observer is reporting on the firestorm created by Lee Francis, an American History teacher at Massey Hill Classical High School in the Cumberland Country school district of North Carolina.

Students allege that Francis was teaching about the Supreme Court case of Texas v. Johnson, which upheld the right to desecrate the flag as speech protected under the First Amendment. They report that he first asked students for a lighter, and then a pair of scissors. When none of these could be provided, he threw the flag on the ground and stomped on it.

According to EAG News, Sara Taylor, the parent of a student at the school, said her daughter was given a picture of the incident which was taken by a student who was in Francis’ class at the time of the incident.

“I called the Principal Dr. Adams and asked her why he couldn’t have talked about it and not actually disrespect the flag like that and she completely stood up for him,” Taylor wrote on a Facebook post that has since been deleted.

“A few students left the classroom and one took the flag with them and asked that it properly taken care of. With the County getting so much funding for our military kids at this school, I ask the question of mutual respect, nothing less, nothing more. That flag might not mean anything to that teacher, but it means a lot to us and it means a lot to the families who had their service member come home to them in a casket with that flagged draped over it.”

Taylor goes on to allege that the principal refused to discuss the matter with her because her daughter wasn’t in Francis’ classroom. Taylor said it was her right to know what occurs in her child’s school, but the principal still refused to hear her complaint. The principal also allegedly refused to inform the district superintendent about Francis’ behavior.

“I asked if she would be letting the superintendent in on this and she stated ‘No, this is an in house matter,’” Taylor wrote.

However, the Observer reports that Cumberland County Superintendent Frank Till Jr. eventually learned of the incident and is looking into the matter. While refusing to comment publicly until “it all gets sorted out”, he did say that he believed there are better ways to teach students about freedom of speech and First Amendment rights than what apparently happened in this classroom.

Meanwhile, Francis is defending himself, calling the uproar “disconcerting”.

“My question to everyone is who is entitled to freedom of speech? Does everyone have access to freedom of speech? It’s unfortunate that all this has happened.”

Francis made an attempt to challenge state representative Elmer Floyd of Fayetteville in the Democratic primary last year, calling for a “revolution” in the education system that would give power back to teachers. He also campaigned for affordable health care for all and believed in homeless rights, voting rights, a higher minimum wage and supporting women and gay rights. However, he dropped out of the primary race in December.

Francis has been placed on paid leave while the matter is being investigated.

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