1998

Teachers use of flag props stirs controversy

by Jennifer Crowe

Cara Lake didn't think she would start a community controversy when she put three flags on display in her classroom Wednesday at Vaughn Middle School in Reno.

The U.S. history teacher pulled out a number of props for the two-week series of lessons on World War II. Newspaper clippings telling the story of VE-Day, photos of the concentration camps and holocaust victims, and flags of the major players in the war - an American flag, a Japanese flag and a German battle flag, with an iron cross and black swastika symbol.

"Having the flags up creates an open dialogue and has sparked their interest in learning," Lake said of her students. "I use them along with other props, like the Great Britain battle helmet, and it gets them so jazzed up they really take ownership of their learning." But the German flag has stirred the emotions of a Jewish teacher at the school, Linda Platshon, who says the flag offends her. Platshon has taken her concerns to school officials, her synagogue and local politicians, asking for help to get the flag taken down.

"It's not her teaching that I'm questioning," Platshon said. "I just want it removed."

School district lawyer Jeff Blanck said display of the flag does not violate any laws. Go into any classroom and the walls will be covered with teaching aids and props that relate to topics students are studying, he said.

"This goes to teaching methodology," Blanck said. "Teachers can display religious symbols if they're teaching about the religion, but they can't teach the religion."

Vaughn principal Ginny Knowles said there have been no complaints from students, parents or other staff about the flag. Two teachers last year had concerns about Lake displaying the German battle flag, but after a conversation among the three the issue was resolved.

"After talking, they understood what I was doing. I'm a professional and I don't want to offend anybody and we could have discussed it and maybe come to a resolution," Lake said. "I feel like this has gotten blown out of proportion and I'm on the defensive.

I'm positive I'm doing something good for my students, but I'm worried because I'm early in my career that this could have a negative effect on me."

Lake, who is completing her fourth year at Vaughn, said the first year she didn't have the props, but she used them every year since. She says the children are more excited about learning when she uses the displays.

Platshon said she was too upset to confront Lake about the flag, but instead sent an e-mail requesting that the flag be removed. Lake responded the flag was part of a lesson, but she would meet with Platshon to talk about why the flag is on display in class.

Platshon has refused to meet with Lake, Knowles said, instead taking her concerns to the media and top school district officials. Platshon said Knowles has insisted she apologize to Lake for demanding she remove the flag.

"We have tried to get a meeting but the teacher who made the complaint hasn't chosen to get involved," Knowles said. "If she did, I think she would really understand where our other teacher is coming from. I think Mrs. Lake's feeling really persecuted, like she's on trial and has done something wrong and that isn't the case."

Assistant superintendent Debbie Cylke, whose area includes Vaughn, has met with school staff members and Rabbi Keller of Temple Emanu El, where Platshon is a member.

"She wants the kids to understand that the German flag is a symbol of hatred," Cylke said of Lake. "She ties this into current-day white supremacist groups. Not only was it a symbol of power 50 years ago, but today white supremacist groups within our own country will use the same symbol."

Cylke said teachers need to be sensitive to the feelings of students and other staffers at the school. There are many periods in history that have been unpleasant for various racial and ethnic groups, she said.

Cylke believes teachers should teach the topic of slavery in a way that makes black students comfortable. Such subjects such as America's westward expansion, she said, should be presented in a way that shows sensitivity to the concerns of Native American students.

"U.S. history teachers do have academic freedom to show artifacts and symbols and they need to do it in a sensitive way," Cylke said. "After investigating this, I felt the teacher was doing this to educate the students that this not only was a symbol of hate 50 years ago but of neo-Nazism. This teacher was willing to be sensitive, she doesn't want to offend her colleagues."

Platshon said Lake could accomplish the lesson in class without hanging the flags from the ceiling.

"What about those kids who aren't in her class," Platshon said. "There could be some impressionable kids walk by and get the wrong idea about why the flag is there. I think it sends the wrong message to everyone."

Lake obtained the artifacts from her stepfather, a teacher in California. She is trying to add flags from Great Britain and Italy to complete the collection.

Lake said students who aren't in her class but see the flag have stopped and asked about it. Students in her class also have taken it upon themselves to share what they've learned about World War II with others at school.

"They've gotten more out of it than if they had just read the book an answered some questions," Lake said. "It's opened up so much discussion and the students are really taking ownership of their learning. We talk about that kind of hatred and what it can do to people."

Keller understands the need to educate students about the symbols of Nazism, but objects to the flag hanging in the classroom for two weeks. He added he's received a number of calls from local veterans disturbed at hearing the flag was on display at a local school.
"To leave it up there that way brings legitimacy," Keller said. "I don't put the blame on the teacher, but school administration need to be more sensitive."

The local Jewish community has been a target of anti-Semitism in recent months with bombings at Temple Emanu El, Keller said. The swastika and other Nazi symbols also have been found in journal entries and on web sites built by teens Keller said. The swastika and other Nazi symbols also have been found in Journal entries and on web sites built by teens involved in school shootings across the country.

Two teen gunmen who opened fire April 20, at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., killing 12 students and a teacher, had put references to Adolf Hitler and Nazism on a web site.

Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris also mentioned Hitler in a diary the pair kept chronicling their plans to massacre students at school.
In August, Buford Furrow explained his motivation for shooting three small children, a teenager and a 68-year-old woman at the North Valley Jewish Community Center in Granada Hills, Calif. He reportedly said he "wanted the shooting to be a wake-up call to America to kill Jews."

Lake said it's these types of incidents that make it even more critical to teach the symbols of hate in schools.

"It's our history and I don't see why we need to hide it," she said. "If these students are knowledgeable they're not condemned to repeat these mistakes."