School officials often complain, with justification, that they are asked in the course of a day not only to educate, but to referee an array of social problems. You wouldn’t think they’d volunteer to be the flag police as well.
That happened Wednesday in Jefferson County. Thankfully, common sense prevailed before the situation got out of hand.
It began when Carmody Middle School Principal John Schalk discovered that geography teacher Eric Hamlin was displaying the flags of China, Mexico and the United Nations in his classroom in theoretical violation of an obscure state law outlawing permanent display of foreign flags on public buildings. Hamlin was suspended when he wouldn’t heed the order to remove the flags.
Thursday, Jeffco school administrators reinstated Hamlin and his flags – which will be displayed for no longer than six weeks at a time.
There’s a valuable lesson here for students – about defending one’s principles, about problem-solving and compromise. Too bad they had to learn it at their principal’s expense.
