You Can't Go Into The History Books Until You Retire
Go to any school supply store and you can buy a poster, or a ruler, or something that lists all the presidents. If the store is up to date, then there will be an entry stating "G.W. Bush, 2001- ."

One would draw the logical assumption that if you were to post pictures of the presidents in the classroom, you should post one of George W. Bush.

However, at least one school is not logical. From WABC:

Middle School Teacher In Trouble Over Presidential Photo?

By Ken Rosato
(Monmouth Junction-WABC, October 3, 2004) — You might say it is a symbol of the Great American Divide, a teacher putting up a picture of President Bush in the classroom. Some say it is partisanship while others say it is patriotism.

Rita Bianco, Parent: "Children should know their president and their first lady!"

Parents expressing outrage after a teacher is kicked out of her public school for hanging a picture of President Bush next to pictures of other presidents in her classroom.

Shiba Pillai-Diaz, Teacher: "It happened on a small bulletin board near the American flag and also with a poster of the Declaration of Independence."

This is Crossroads South Middle School in Monmouth Junction, New Jersey. On Thursday, there was a back-to-school night for parents of students. Veteran English teacher Shiba Pillai-Diaz says she was shocked when three parents confronted her. The three, insisting the teacher either add John Kerry's photo to the montage of presidents or remove the Bush photo. When Pillai-Diaz refused, she says the school's vice-principal threatened her job which is an act that has parents here fuming.

Paula Sjolund, Parent: "She didn't do anything wrong, and I think that it should have stayed up there."

Pillai-Diaz ultimately removed the entire bulletin board and says School Principal Jim Warfel told her she disrupted the school with her "inflammatory politics". She says he then ordered her out of the building. While she says she is a Bush supporter in her personal life, Pillai-Diaz says she keeps politics out of the classroom.

Shiba Pillai-Diaz, Teacher: "There was no political intent, nor was there any political content in that photograph nor on the bulletin board."

School officials would not talk on camera but insist nobody here has been fired. To that, Ms. Pillai-Diaz asks what does it mean then when your boss asks you to hand over the keys and kicks you out of the building? She also says she is not sure if she'll be returning to school tomorrow.

Another article states that the teacher walked off the job:

Teacher defends pic of president


Published in the Home News Tribune 10/03/04
By JERRY BARCA
and DINA GUIRGUIS
STAFF WRITERS
SOUTH BRUNSWICK: A middle school teacher walked out on her job after being asked to remove a picture of the president from her classroom, she said.

Though she says he has not resigned, the teacher's situation at Crossroads Middle School South is not yet resolved.

Shiba Pillai-Diaz's walkout involved the local police, left school officials mum and appalled the local Republican Party.

Pillai-Diaz, 33, a volunteer with the Bush campaign and an English teacher, has had a publicity picture of the First Couple hanging in her classroom since the start of the school year, she said.

The photo became an issue last week.

Parents e-mailed an assistant principal accusing Pillai-Diaz of suppressing free speech because the teacher refused to talk to pupils about why the color photo hung in the room.

"Students said, 'You like George Bush? He's killed people,' " Pillai-Diaz said. "As a rule I don't talk about my politics in the classroom."

According to Pillai-Diaz, Assistant Principal Mark Daniels said he had no problem with the photo, which hung next to posters of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. But Daniels told the teacher she should address questions that arose because of the photo.

"He wasn't giving me the power to direct conversation in my classroom," said Pillai-Diaz, who regarded the picture just as an image of the current president.

Thursday, at back-to-school night, the controversy exploded after a parent asked why the picture was up, Pillai-Diaz said.

"The way she asked was a political assault," the teacher said.

Then the parents started their own debate about the picture, and one mother stormed out of the classroom, Pillai-Diaz said.

Friday morning, the teacher, who is in her sixth year of teaching and her first in South Brunswick, was called into the assistant principal's office. Daniels told her to remove the picture, Pillai-Diaz said.

"He said, 'If you care about your job, you'll take the picture down,' " she said.

Pillai-Diaz told the assistant principal to take the picture down himself. Then she sought Principal Jim Warfel, who gave her an upbraiding.

"He said, 'You've caused more disruption, hatred and anger than anyone I've ever known,' " she said.

The teacher said the principal told her to "get out," so she left and headed to the South Brunswick Police Department.

An officer accompanied Pillai-Diaz back to the school because she said she feared for her safety when she went to collect her belongings, police said.

Once Pillai-Diaz felt safe at the school the officer left, police said.

In the school, Pillai-Diaz had a two-hour meeting with Superintendent Gary McCartney and a representative from the teachers' union. Both parties told the teacher she would lose any fight she would try to start about the picture, Pillai-Diaz said.

"They weren't interested in the substance of the issue," she said.

The superintendent said no one has resigned, been fired or suspended. McCartney would not discuss the incident, calling it a personnel matter.

When reached Friday night, Sylvia Lee, president of the teachers' union, said no teacher had been fired and she didn't know about the incident. Lee did not return multiple telephone messages left for her yesterday.

Board of Education President Robert Long declined to comment on the incident, calling it a personnel matter.

He did say he could not find any district policy addressing the presence of pictures of presidents in classrooms. He said it would be too early to tell whether the incident merited a policy change.

"We don't want to develop a policy for something that is not needed," Long said. "Whatever the facts may be, it is something we will certainly take a look at if needed."

Democrats dominate South Brunswick's government, holding the Mayor's Office and three of the four council seats.

Of the 40,000 people living in the township, about 5,000 are registered Republicans. Registered Democrats outnumber them by a 3-to-2 margin, said local Republican officials.

"It's horrible that a teacher was asked to take down a picture of the president of the United States," said Dawn Smith, chair of the local Republican Committee. "It's unconscionable."

Smith said she would expect the same procedures to apply whether it was President Bush or former President Clinton.

"When did we stop honoring our country's leaders?" Smith asked.

Pillai Diaz said the only way school officials may have known she was a Republican is because she could not attend a meeting with teachers on the day she volunteered at the Republican National Convention in New York.

"I never once said 'I am a Republican' or 'I support the president,' " Pillai-Diaz said.

Pillai-Diaz turned in the keys to her classroom on Friday. She packed up the picture and her classroom decorations, taking them with her when she left. She is unsure about her future employment, but said she is supposed to speak with district officials about it tomorrow.

"My ultimate goal is to teach," she said.