California Teacher 'removed' over flag bruhaha

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A California school district is investigating a teacher who posted a now-viral video in which she joked about telling a student that he could pledge allegiance to the Pride flag.

In the video, Kristin Pitzen, who teaches English as a second language for the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, about 40 miles south of Los Angeles, talks about how she allows students to say the Pledge of Allegiance in her classroom.

"OK, so during third period, we do announcements and they do the Pledge of Allegiance," Pitzen said in the video shared to her TikTok account, @mrsgillingsworth, which has been deleted. "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.' So my class decided to stand but not say the words. Totally fine. Except for the fact that my room does not have a flag."

Pitzen pointed to where the American flag used to be in her classroom, but said she took it down during the Covid-19 pandemic "because it made me uncomfortable," she whispered. She said she packed it away and hasn't found it yet.

"But, my kid today goes, 'Hey, it's kind of weird that we just stand and we say it to nothing,'" Pitzen said, adding that she told the student she is working on finding it.

"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 said, pointing to the rainbow Pride flag and laughing.