Mom upset at anti-Trump shirt displayed in NJ classroom
ROXBURY — A T-shirt that hung in a public school classroom in Morris County has renewed one mother's criticism of a teacher who she says is pushing his political views on students.
The shirt featured an image of President Donald Trump along with the words "NOPE" and "Vive la résistance."
A student took a picture of the shirt last month and shared it with township resident Laurel Whitney, who says this is the latest example of the teacher making political statements.
Schools Superintendent Loretta Radulic said in an email to New Jersey 101.5 that the incident was a "personnel matter and therefore, cannot be discussed. All I can say is it was handled appropriately."
Radulic did not explain the context of the T-shirt display or how the situation was handled.
The photo was taken on Feb. 13, Whitney said, and she was told the shirt was removed on Monday, March 4.
Whitney has a son who graduated Roxbury High School in 2016 after his own political clash with the same teacher, she said.
She said her son, who is Jewish, was forced to redo a current events project on Israel, this time using Al Jazeera as a primary source. Whitney said school administration ignored her emails pointing out what she said was the Middle East-based news organization's anti-Semitic language. She said her son ultimately redid his project so as not to fail the class.
According to Whitney, other parents have privately worried about the same teacher promoting his political views to students but are reluctant to go public with concerns because their children are still enrolled in school.
Whitney said after multiple complaints from her and other parents, "at this point he should be made an example of rather than defended by the superintendent."
New Jersey has seen a couple of other cases of political speech being questioned in a public school.
Back in January, Holmdel High School student, Boris Kizenko, said he was denied acceptance into the National Honors Society as a result of his support for President Trump.
A couple years earlier, Wall Township High School was the center of controversy after a student's T-shirt with the message "Trump Make America Great Again" was censored in the 2017 yearbook.
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