"He defied a direct, reasonable request from a principal. That's what's at issue here," Stevenson said.
Hamlin said, "There's no question I was insubordinate . . . I did directly tell my principal that I would not follow what he told me that I had to do.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/education/article/0,1299,DRMN_957_4940787,00.html
According to the article at the link, the teacher has about 50 flags and displays particular flags at various times when relevant to a specific lesson.
However, he was displaying three flags: the United Nations, China (PRC) and Mexico, on an everyday basis.
The principal interpreted that the permanent display of the three flags was over the line.
If I were the principal, maybe I would have had a different interpretation. If you were the principla, maybe you would have decided differently. But I am not the principal, you are not the principal, and this teacher is not the principal.
As long as the principal was acting in good faith, it's his decision to make.
A red flag here is the fact that the teacher HAD AN ADMINISTRATIVE APPEAL open to him, but CHOSE NOT to use it. That tells me this was a publicity stunt.
Your position seems to be that every school employee may ignore whatever laws and policies they don't personally feel like following if they somehow feel "stifled" by the rules.
