News Articles on schools and display of flags - CAIR - Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform

This section deals with the display of a Mexican flag next to the United States flag in a Denver Public School classroom. The issue began on August 17, 2004, with a picture in the Rocky Mountain News of the Mexican flag and United States flag displayed side-by-side. The picture generated many calls and letters to the Rocky Mountain News and Denver North High School. The issue gained national interest and was covered twice that week on CNN's Lou Dobbs news program.

It appears by their articles, editorials and failure to print balanced letters to the editor that the Rocky Mountain News and the Denver Post are more interested in acting as apologists for race-based "diversity", multiculturalism and disuniting of America, than in honest coverage of the concerns of the vast majority of Americans. For more information, see our issues section.

Articles below this point include excerpts.

Why is it us against them?
By Cindy Rodriguez, The Denver Post, August 24, 2004
Denver Public Schools Superintendent Jerry Wartgow called the media Friday to set the record straight: Public schools cannot display the flag of a foreign nation.
It's illegal, a violation of Colorado law.
...Wartgow explained that the flags of other countries can be displayed temporarily only for educational purposes...
The people who called North High School principal Darlene LeDoux and threatened to retaliate with violence are scary, un-American and clearly know nothing about patriotism.
So insecure about their own identity, some are quick to fear anyone who is different.
They are the people who get mad if they hear someone speaking a foreign language. They cringe when they see an option for Spanish at a local ATM.
All those anxieties came to a boil Aug. 16 when two radio talk-show hosts railed about the Mexican flag display. They called it disgraceful, made insipid remarks such as, "Denver is not a suburb of Mexico."
They legitimized racism and xenophobia on the air by using the code word: "un-American." That's not patriotic, it's hate-riotic.
Why does it have to come down to us versus them?
Just 156 years ago, Colorado was Mexican soil. It was taken in a land grab after the Mexican-American war, but that land came with thousands of Mexicans. Their descendants are your neighbors...
The Latinos who were here first didn't expect white settlers to assimilate. That favor should be returned now.
No one has to give up the hyphen to be American. I'm American, but I'm also Latin-American. I'm proud of my culture, but truth is I wasn't always. Latinos are so looked down upon that it's not uncommon to find Latino kids rejecting their heritage.
It's one reason symbols of our collective cultures should be displayed in classrooms...
Seeing the flag of another country in a classroom, or hanging from a car mirror, shouldn't rattle us. Not if we're truly patriotic.
Cindy Rodríguez's column appears Tuesdays and Thursdays in Scene. Contact her at 303-820-1211 or crodriguez@denverpost.com.
[See letter in response to this article].
Illegal immigration's ugly side of a biased media
By Frosty Wooldridge, MICHnews.com, August 23, 2004

Last week, the Rocky Mountain News of Colorado ran a piece, North High's Future Starts With Trust, by Tina Griego. What spurred a national debate that reached the Lou Dobbs show centered on an 8x10 inch full color picture showing not only the Mexican flag equal to and along side Old Glory in the back of the classroom, but the American flag incorrectly hung. It created an immediate, angry and screaming backlash from Americans across the USA.

Colorado suffers 150,000 to 200,000 estimated illegal aliens, which cost Colorado taxpayers $140.6 million (Colorado Department of Education) annually to pay for kids who should be going to Mexican schools. That does not include assisted housing, anchor babies, fee lunches, medical services, ESL classes and disruption to American children in the chaos of Denver schools...

The backlash instigated angry calls and emails. One Internet writer wrote: "Denver is an American city," she said. "Funding comes from American taxpayers. American teachers are paid by American citizens to teach American principles. Americans paid for the freedoms we enjoy with blood, sweat and tears. Furthermore, we pay for the schools, busses, books and utilities. If those illegal alien kids as well as their parents want to feel more comfortable with the Mexican flag, they may drive south on I-25 until they hit Juarez. They'll know when they hit Mexico by the trash, misery, hordes and inequities of the Third World."

...As can be imagined, Tina Griego in her regular fluff pieces demonstrates a bias for open borders and pro illegal immigration.

What she doesn't understand or respect is that all illegal aliens are federal felons. She doesn't appreciate that 13 million illegal aliens create massive havoc in America in job losses, chaos in our schools, crime and crisis in our health care. Additionally, they brought diseases such as 16,000 new cases of tuberculosis in the past five years, 7,000 cases of leprosy and tens of thousands of cases of hepatitis "A" into our country by their lawless activities. Worse, they bring a massive breakdown of the rule-of-law as they careen this country into the crisis of Third World Momentum.

John Temple, publisher of the RMN, wrote a diatribe calling the protesters, "Ugly." At the same time, he did not publish one single letter protesting the breaking of US and Colorado law for displaying a foreign flag. Why? Because the Rocky Mountain News demonstrates weekly its pro-illegal immigration and open borders agenda. Unknown or forgotten by Temple is a law forbidding flags from other countries in Colorado and the USA. (Colorado Criminal Code # 18-11-205, Article 1 and 2.) Instead of speaking out against illegal invasion that is causing so much crisis in his state with a budget deficit of $1 billion, Temple condones it by his silence. Instead of writing in favor of upholding US law, Temple squashes letters to the editor over the outrage by Americans of the Mexican flag flown equal to and greater than Old Glory. In our own American classrooms for crying out loud!

More distressing, the teacher in the classroom noted that most of his students were born in Mexico. He said, "I wanted them to feel more comfortable." On the contrary, Colorado citizens DO NOT want aliens and their kids to feel comfortable being in the United States illegally. Latest Roper and Zoby polls noted that 80% of Americans want illegal immigration stopped and illegal aliens deported.

Extrapolate this media cartel camouflage of this invasion and you understand why America is invaded and stampeded into a crisis from which it may not recover. Already, California pays out $2.2 billion to educate illegal alien kids while it is $38 billion in debt. Their schools placed among the lowest five states educationally in the nation when, 15 years ago, they were in the top five. The total education costs subsidized by Americans for illegal kids stands at $7.4 billion annually according to the Federation for Immigration Reform.

Who pays this gargantuan education price tag? You can bet it's a trifling for Temple who commands a massive six-figure salary. But for the rest of us making an average of $26,000.00 annually, it's a BIG bite out of our pockets. It's so bad in Arizona that illegal aliens number 500,000 in that state while vacuuming nearly $1,000.00 annually out of every taxpayer in the state. That's why they passed Proposition 200 for the November ballot to stop funding illegals with benefits. Leaders who encourage this invasion also run America's banks. Also, companies like Denver's First Data Corporation, headed by Mr. Fote, make millions on money transfers as immigrants send $56 billion back to Mexico, South American and Asia each year...

It gets down to a nightmare provoked, supported and provided by papers like the Rocky Mountain News, Denver Post, Arizona Republic, Dallas Morning News, LA Times, NY Times, Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune and dozens of other papers who actively support illegal alien immigration. Who runs them? Elite men of power and money-and they want more cheap labor at your expense. These print media barons dupe the US public with heinous disrespect not only for our flag, for our language for what we have created and for what we stand for: law and order in a functioning society...

Finally, you must ask yourself, do you want 300 million people added to the US population via massive immigration in the next 60 to 70 years? We follow China, India and Bangladesh into the nightmare of a crisis our children will not survive. The more extreme our numbers the more extreme our children's consequences.

As an American citizen who loves my country, speaking English and enjoying our standard of living and quality of life, I am sick of what our media propagates in our country and against us. We can no longer afford a media that augments and promotes the destruction of the United States as a sovereign nation.

Frosty Wooldridge is a teacher and author who has bicycled 100,000 miles on six continents to see overpopulation up close and ugly. His explosive book published August 13, 2004: 'IMMIGRATION'S UNARMED INVASION-DEADLY CONSEQUENCES.' Copies may be obtained at: 1-800-280-7715 at www.authorhouse.com and www.frostywooldridge.com
District sets guidelines on flag displays
By Nancy Mitchell, Rocky Mountain News, August 21, 2004
Principals in Denver Public Schools will ensure U.S. flags are "proudly and appropriately" displayed in schools according to guidelines issued Friday by Superintendent Jerry Wartgow.
Wartgow, at an afternoon press conference, spelled out the guidelines based on state and federal laws governing the display of American flags and those of other countries.
Based on those laws, only U.S. or Colorado flags may be permanently displayed in schools, Wartgow said. Flags of other countries may be displayed only if they relate to classroom instruction and only if their display is temporary....
"I've learned an awful lot about flag displays," Wartgow said, adding, "I don't think it's silly because the symbolism of the American flag is so important. This is very serious to people."...
"We believe that's a strength of DPS, the diversity," Wartgow said. "But . . . this is America, and we will display (flags) appropriately."
The Mexican flag has been temporarily restored to the North classroom, but will be removed after the teacher concludes lessons on U.S.-Mexican relations, Wartgow said, citing a conversation with LeDoux...
"I don't think students should take offense," Wartgow said. "This is America. American flags should have prominence."
Temple: Education is main issue, not flags
By John Temple, Editor Rocky Mountain News, August 21, 2004
I've seen an ugly side of our community this week.
It erupted Tuesday morning, when we published a photograph of a geography classroom at Denver's North High School that showed a Mexican flag next to an improperly hung American flag.
The picture illustrated a series we launched that day called "The North Side," by columnist Tina Griego and photographer Maria Avila, about life at the predominantly Hispanic school and why some of its students succeed and too many don't...
Most of the writers and callers immediately jumped to the conclusion that the students in the picture were "illegal."...
We do know that the school district has to educate any child who shows up at its doors. We also know that of North's 1,400 students last October, only 14 percent were classified as "English language learners."...
We've seen Denver Public Schools rededicate itself to improving the performance of its students under Superintendent Jerry Wartgow and a cohesive school board. They are supported by a foundation of businesspeople from across the political spectrum.
But there's still a problem that has to gnaw at anybody concerned about our future: too many students don't complete their education...
This challenge comes as the Hispanic population of Denver is booming. One-third of the city's residents are now Hispanic, as are a majority of the students in its schools.
We at the Rocky have been working with a national Hispanic journalism organization and local Hispanic leaders for the past year and half on a project to try to improve our coverage to more accurately reflect the new reality of Denver....
So this summer I met with North Principal Darlene LeDoux and asked her to let Tina and Maria have complete access to her school so our readers could better understand what is happening...
As the photograph of the two flags illustrates, a newspaper has amazing power... It can - and should - build understanding...
It is what we're committed to doing as a newspaper.
Undoubtedly, the issue of illegal immigration is one of the factors affecting our schools and an underlying reason for the outrage over the photo...
My goal is that this journey will enable all of us to see the world through the eyes of North students, parents and teachers...
That seems to me the American way.
John Temple can be reached at editor@RockyMountainNews.com or by mail at 100 Gene Amole Way, Denver, CO 80204.
Colo. City Clarifies Policy Over Flags
Associated Press, August 20, 2004
DENVER - Criticism over a Mexican flag hung in a classroom has led school officials to create a policy that says the display of foreign banners must be temporary and related to what is being taught in class.
Officials at North High School, where the student population is 84 percent Hispanic, said they received complaints over a photograph in the Rocky Mountain News taken on Monday, the first day of school.
The photo showed a Mexican flag displayed in a classroom next to a U.S. flag...
School superintendent Jerry Wartgow said some people complained there should never be any non-U.S. flags displayed in the schools... In response to the complaints, school principal Darlene LeDoux removed the Mexican flag and another one displayed in the school's lobby next to a poster of the Statue of Liberty.
The News reported Friday that the new guidelines are still being written, but that they would protect the display of flags but require any such display to be related to the curriculum.
Superintendent Spells Out Flag Displays In Schools
Denver Public Schools website, August 20, 2004
Given confusion this week around the proper display of United States and foreign flags in public schools, Superintendent Jerry Wartgow today issued the following guidelines to principals and assistant principals:
"Displays of the United States flag are governed by federal law. While covering the opening of the school year earlier this week, a local newspaper photograph showed an inadvertent violation of this law in one classroom. The violation was corrected immediately.
"Schools also must comply with federal and state laws that specifically describe and, in some cases, limit the display of foreign flags.
"Only the United States or Colorado flags (or the flags of state subsidiaries) may be displayed permanently in schools. Temporary flag displays that are instructional or historic in nature or student work products used as part of a lesson are permitted.
"DPS Board policy also says that each academic classroom should prominently display a United States flag when classes are in session. (DPS accepts donations of United States flags to ensure that we have enough for display in academic classrooms throughout the district.) When displayed either horizontally or vertically against a wall, the blue field should be uppermost and to the observer's left. When displayed in a window, the flag should be displayed with the blue field to the left of the observer in the street."
For more information, contact the DPS Communications Office at 303-764-3414.
Photo Of Foreign Flag In Classroom Draws Flap From Community - Denver Will Allow Non-U.S. Flags In School
Denver's ABC channel 7, August 20, 2004

SURVEY
Do you think it is OK to fly Mexico's flag at an American school with a majority of Hispanic students?

Choice
Votes
Percentage of 8393 Votes

Yes
2701
32%

No
5692
68%

DENVER -- The controversy that erupted after a Mexican flag was shown hanging in one of the city's high schools has led officials to draft a policy protecting the display foreign flags in schools.
The guidelines, which are still being written, will allow flags of other countries to be temporarily displayed if they are related to what is being taught in the classroom, school superintendent Jerry Wartgow said Thursday.
The district got complaints from people upset by a photograph in the Rocky Mountain News showing a Mexican flag displayed in a social studies classroom at North High School on the first day of classes this week. Other people were upset that the American flag hanging beside it was hung improperly....
By Friday afternoon, Wartgow issued guidelines that said non-U.S. flags will not be permitted in DPS schools.
"Only the United States or Colorado flags, or the flags of state subsidiaries, may be displayed permanently in schools," he siad in a news conference. "Temporary flag displays that are instructional or historic in nature or student work products used as part of a lesson are permitted."
North High School, where 83.6 percent of the students are Hispanic, received some threats over the flag flap, prompting Principal Darlene LeDoux to tell teacher Andrew Fox to remove the flag from his classroom. She also took down another Mexican flag which was displayed in the school's lobby along with a Statue of Liberty poster.
Flag flap has DPS racing to get everyone back in fold
By Nancy Mitchell, Rocky Mountain News, August 20, 2004
Guidelines for flag displays in Denver Public Schools are going out to principals after a Mexican flag display at North High School sparked controversy.
The guidelines, which are still in draft form, essentially say flags of other countries may be displayed if they are related to classroom instruction and if their display is temporary, said DPS Superintendent Jerry Wartgow....
Many of those Hispanic families are moving into traditionally black neighborhoods in northeast Denver.
At Montbello High School, the percentage of Hispanic students has grown from 19 percent three years ago to 51 percent today....
Denver school will replace Mexican flags
By Valerie Richardson, The Washington Times, August 19, 2004
DENVER — School officials here said yesterday they plan to replace two Mexican flags removed from a local high school this week after a public outcry about the issue dies down.
School staffers at North High School took down the Mexican flags on Tuesday after receiving threats from callers who said they would come to the school and tear down the flags themselves.
But Denver Public Schools spokeswoman Tanya Caughey said school officials planned to rehang the Mexican flags next to the U.S. flags once their safety concerns are eased.
"The principal does intend to put the flag back up once we're sure our students are safe," Mrs. Caughey said. "We're respecting equality, human rights, human dignity and safety."
The uproar came after the Rocky Mountain News ran a photograph showing students in a social-studies classroom with the Mexican and U.S. flags displayed vertically and hanging side by side....
Mike Rosen, host of a popular talk show on [Denver] KOA-AM radio, tackled the issue during his morning show yesterday and Tuesday, arguing that it was "inappropriate" to display a foreign flag alongside a U.S. flag in a public facility.
"The major issue is that in an American public school, no other country should have its flag displayed with equal prominence with the American flag," Mr. Rosen said. "This is not a Mexican-American school. This is not a colony of Mexico — it's part of Colorado, which is part of the United States."...
Mrs. Caughey said federal law allows U.S. flags to be displayed in public buildings next to foreign flags as long as the Stars and Stripes sits on the right...
About 84 percent of the high school's enrollment is Hispanic, and 24 percent have limited English proficiency....
Griego: Schools are on front line of social change
By Tina Griego, Rocky Mountain News, August 19, 2004
I went on Peter Boyles' radio show Wednesday to talk about the Mexican flag flap at North High School. To the best of my recollection, my performance went something like:
Peter: And what do you think about the Rebel flag hanging in the South?
Tina: Um, ah, well . . .
Peter: And what about the high school sports teams with names like Redskins?
Tina: Ah, well, um . . .
Peter: Are there any Hmong students, Vietnamese students at North? What about their flag?...
Flag-gate continues... Some of you saw in the Mexican flag display a political statement, a claim made, a confirmation of a disintegrating common society. I saw administrators acknowledging student heritage while working to prepare those same students for life as productive Americans. We can, and no doubt will, argue about this later. Time to move on...
It's legitimate to question whether what schools are doing is working. In fact, questions are what drove this project. They are why News photographer Maria Avila and I want you to accompany us on this journey into an urban high school. We will be learning along the way, just as you will. We will be challenged to rethink our positions, just as you might be....
And the next time Peter calls, I'll make sure I'm awake.

griegot@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-2699.
Griego: True colors shine through at North
By Tina Griego, Rocky Mountain News, August 18, 2004
So, we run a photo Tuesday of North High School freshmen in a classroom against the backdrop of an American and Mexican flag hanging side-by-side and this is what happens.
So-called adults, foul-mouthed and self-righteous, call the school and threaten to enter a building full of kids and rip down the Mexican flags if the administration doesn't. They say:
"This is America, not Mexico."
"I didn't realize we are a suburb of Mexico."
"I am outraged to see an Mexican flag hanging in a building paid for by American taxpayers."..
Is the American identity so fragile, so easily threatened? If as many people spent half the amount of time and energy on the kids in that building, we would never have to worry about the well-being of this school again.
I went to Andrew Fox's class Tuesday. He's the social studies teacher whose classroom was pictured in the photo... Fox was born in the United States and moved to Mexico when he was six. He returned to the States when he was 19. Ninety percent of his students are Mexican by birth or descent...
After hearing that he had displayed the flags improperly, he took the American flag and moved it to the opposite side of the room. The principal and the ROTC instructor came in and the instructor showed him how to hang the American flag. Stars in the upper left. Flag in the place of honor, to the speaker's right as he faces the audience...
"People misunderstand our intentions," he says. "I hung both flags. The American flag first and one inch away, the Mexican flag. Beneath the flag, I put a poster of the Statue of Liberty and then two small posters, one in Spanish and one in English. The words are very important: 'At North, we believe in mutual respect and in unity within diversity.'
"I did it because there is racism back and forth. Not just white to Mexican but Mexican to white, Mexican-American to Mexican, Mexican to Mexican-American. It is wrong and I am trying my utmost to destroy it."...
And that's how the first regular school day ends at North High School in the city of Denver, in the Land of the Free.
griegot@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-2699.
Griego: North High's future starts with trust
By Tina Griego, Rocky Mountain News, August 17, 2004
[Caption under picture of Mexican flag displayed next to the United States flag] Freshmen attend their first day of teacher Andrew Fox's geography class Monday at North High School in Denver. Enrollment for this year's ninth-graders was expected to be about 650, which is almost half of the school's total projected enrollment.
More than 600 freshmen were supposed to begin school at North High on Monday. I can't tell you for certain how many were there because the first day of school for freshmen brings with it a certain, inherent chaos...
A conservative guess is that of the 650 new freshmen, at least 15 percent will drop out before graduation. Most estimates are higher...
More than 600 freshmen were supposed to begin school at North High on Monday. I can't tell you for certain how many were there because the first day of school for freshmen brings with it a certain, inherent chaos...
A conservative guess is that of the 650 new freshmen, at least 15 percent will drop out before graduation. Most estimates are higher...
I wasn't alone Monday. News photographer Maria Avila was also there. We are both Latinas from schools with predominately minority student populations, just like North, where 83 percent of students are Hispanic. I graduated from Belen High School in central New Mexico. She is from an urban high school, Benjamin Franklin in Los Angeles. And it troubles us that so many kids, many of whom are Hispanic, are dropping out of school...
griegot@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-2699.

Selected letters on foreign flags in American classrooms