Kristin Pitzen, a radical leftist teacher working at Back Bay High School, Orange County, California, enraged a huge number of parents as well as people from all over the country after she posted a video on TikTok explaining how she forced the kids pledge allegiance to the LGBT rainbow flag she put in her classroom before taking the Star-Spangled Banner down.
In the video, she could be seen laughing as she’s speaking of the incident. The school, however, didn’t find her action funny. On the contrary, the Newport-Mesa Unified School District removed Pitzen from the classroom as an investigation regarding the incident is being carried out.
“A personal post by a teacher about the American flag is causing alarm/concern,” the official account for the district stated. “Respecting our flag is a value we instill in students and is an expectation of our staff. We take this matter with extreme seriousness and are investigating and addressing it.”
Teacher mocks the American Flag and suggests to students they can say the Pledge of Allegiance to the pride flag: pic.twitter.com/1QTS5xjPln
— Libs of Tik Tok (@libsoftiktok) August 27, 2021
In the one-minute video, the teacher explains that the American flag had made her feel “uncomfortable.”
“My kid today goes, ‘Hey, it’s kind of weird that we just stand and we say it to nothing.’ And I’m like, ‘Oh well, I gotta find it. I’m working on it. I got you,’” Pitzen says in the video while laughing. “In the meantime, I tell this kid, ‘We do have a flag in the class that you can pledge your allegiance to,’” she continues.
“And he like, looks around and goes, ‘Oh, that one?’” she says as she point the camera towards the rainbow flag.
The parents of the kids from Pitzen’s classroom, as well as other members of the community, decided to express their anger and disapproval of the teacher’s act by decorating the school area with American flags. They also included rainbow flags in an attempt to spread a message that they don’t have anything against the LGBTQ community, they only want the Star and Stripes to be respected as expected.
A personal post by a teacher about the American flag is causing alarm/concern. Respecting our flag is a value we instill in students and is an expectation of our staff. We take this matter with extreme seriousness and are investigating and addressing it.
— Newport-Mesa USD (@nmusd) August 28, 2021
The follow up story was shared on TikTok by the same user that shared the video of Pitzen.
“I’m in full support of the Pride community, but I don’t compare the Pride flag to the American flag — they’re apples and oranges,” Stephanie Cox, one of the mothers who helped spread a huge American flag on Monday explained.
“Have the Pride flag, but we’re not saying the Pledge of Allegiance to it. That’s for the flag of the United States of America,” she added.
Another woman, Julieanne Papa, said: “We live in a free country, so people can do what they want, but they should be respectful of others. It’s like they’re pushing their own agenda on these kids, and it’s their personal view, nothing they should be teaching in school.”
Back Bay High School, where Kristin Pitzen worked, was decorated in American flags by community members. Patriots 🇺🇸🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/A1vAO3NZcy
— Libs of Tik Tok (@libsoftiktok) September 1, 2021
Newport-Mesa school board President Karen Yelsey said she was very disappointed and outraged especially because this comes at a time when the nation is still mourning the loss of the 13 soldiers who lost their lives in the Kabul bombing.