North Carolina Teacher Placed on Leave After Flag “Stomping” Incident

Lee Francis, a history teacher at Massey Hill Classical High School in Fayetteville, North Carolina, has been placed on paid administrative leave after stepping on an American flag.

A photo of the teacher "stomping" on the flag was posted on Facebook. Francis defended himself and his lesson on the First Amendment, “My question to everyone is who is entitled to freedom of speech? Does everyone have access to freedom of speech? It’s unfortunate that all this has happened.”

Francis will remain on leave until the school board finishes its investigation. According to students, he stepped on the flag several times after asking students for a lighters or scissors. He claims that the lesson was about Texas v. Johnson, a case that says flag desecration is defended by the Bill of Rights.

North Carolina law says it is unlawful “to cast contempt upon any flag of the United States or upon any flag of North Carolina by public acts of physical contact including, but not limited to, mutilation, defiling, defacing or trampling. Any person violating this section shall be deemed guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor.”

Read more at Fay Observer.