[seenenuf]

Who are these brave parents? I want to thank the Larricks
for their stand. Let's let them know they are not alone. All politics are local.

[subterfuge]

bump.

[EdReform]

"The Larricks' troubles with the district began a year ago when their daughter Naomi, now a sophomore, came home and told her parents about a petition for a gay students organization handed out in class -- by her teacher."

Remember when we were told that it was the students who organized GSA's, and that adults had absolutley nothing to do with it? One for the database...

(Are you reading this, madg?)

[MrB]

An observation:

I'm so glad that the term "lefties" instead of "liberals" was used in this article.

Define them for what they are, not for what they want to be perceived as.

[T-Girl]

bump

[ClearCase_guy]

he was reluctant to display the flag because students could misinterpret the action as "narrow-minded patriotism."

Failure to display the flag should be interpreted as "broad-minded intolerance for American values"?

[GETMAIN]

Pratt told Berkeley High's student newspaper, the Yellow Jacket, that he was reluctant to display the flag because students could misinterpret the action as "narrow-minded patriotism."

He should be fired. Not for his political views, but because he is apparently an incompetent moron.

[randog]

But there have been other instances when Berkeley High teachers have acted inappropriately in Naomi's classrooms. Her Spanish teacher spent a week discussing the war in Iraq -- in English.

The district views the Larricks' nitpicking as small potatoes, given problems such as the budget shortfall and a state high school exit exam that most Berkeley High students cannot pass.

I can't believe I read those two sentences together.

[fire_eye]

"We take teachers from the human race and they do make errors in judgment on occasion, and that's why they have principals and superintendents," Lawrence said.

Oh, *sure*. In Berserkeley, they deliberately select *out* all the humans and only hire leftist whack-jobs - for both teachers *and* administrators.

You've got to hand it to these two parents for being willing to attack the Beast in its very heart...

[I_Love_My_Husband]

Cool people. Are they freepers? Because I'm in SF and it's the exact same here.

If they are not freepers, they should be.

[Jesse Falk-Finley]

I am the reporter for the Berkeley High Jacket who wrote the article concerning flags in the classroom. Since its publication, I have noticed that more and more people have begun criticizing Berkeley High and especially Bill Pratt for the comments he made and I wrote. But it has also occurred to me that none of these people have actually read the article and have made many assumptions about Berkeley High. Chip Johnson, the columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, didn’t bother to mention some of the comments made by other teachers at the school like Steve Teel because Johnson received his information directly from the Larrick family and decided to right an article bashing Berkeley as the crazy liberal that we Berkeley residents are so commonly portrayed as. I have a great deal of respect for Steve Teel and his political views and I also have a great deal of respect for Bill Pratt and his political views—they should both be held in high regard because they are teachers. We are all Americans, regardless of the flag, so why focus on such small issues? Surly the problem with the current education system is not the presence or absence of a small flag but rather larger problems of funding, the achievement gap, and early student dropouts. If you have not already seen the article, I posted it on this website along with the subsequent letters to the editor and links to the articles in local newspapers. http://www.geocities.com/theallmightyj/flag.html

If you have comments, I would be glad to hear them. bhsjacket@hotmail.com