Teacher Fired For His Beliefs

[SLCPUNK]

Stephen Kobasa has taught English in parochial schools for 25 years, always with a deep religious conviction and without an American flag in his classroom.

It was never an issue until this school year began.

 Kobasa was fired from his job at Kolbe Cathedral High School in Bridgeport Thursday, in the face of a new diocesan policy that he says he's never seen in writing and hours after turning in his classroom flag to Principal Jo-Anne Jakab.

"I had come to the end of all the procedures of appeal available to me," Kobasa, 57, said Friday. He said his deep-seated religious belief, not un-American sentiments, was at the core of his opposition to having the flag in the classroom.

"The crucifix cancels all flags," said Kobasa, a longtime peace activist. "Christ speaks of compassion without boundaries. ...Flags are about separation, assertions of superiority and aggression. The whole notion that loyalty to country is connected to one's religious faith is totally bizarre and unjustified."

A statement posted on the Diocese of Bridgeport's website, attributed to spokesman Joseph McAleer, confirmed that Kobasa "is no longer a member of the faculty at Kolbe Cathedral High School. It is not our policy to comment on any internal personnel matter."

The statement makes cryptic reference to the flag issue, without direct reference to Kobasa.

"Our Catholic schools provide a dynamic learning environment in which respect for the opinions of others, as well as respect for school property, are both key components," it says. "The Diocese of Bridgeport has long believed that the American flag is an important fixture in its Catholic school classrooms."

When asked if Kobasa's opinions had been respected, McAleer declined to comment.

Kobasa is not sure who made the flag an issue. He said he had heard that a colleague complained about the lack of a flag in his classroom. The school year began with an announcement that the Pledge of Allegiance would be said by all classes at the beginning of the day.

"This posed a problem for me," Kobasa said. "I offered a compromise."

Kobasa agreed to display the flag at the start of the school day, for the duration of the pledge, "for any students who feel they require this expression of loyalty to the flag." Then he would remove it.

"I felt I could keep my conscience intact and I wasn't imposing my position on them," Kobasa said. But his compromise was rejected by the diocese's school superintendent and Jakab. Kobasa said he wrote to Bishop William E. Lori to emphasize that for him, the absence of the flag from his classroom was a matter of conscience, not whimsy. He received no response.

Before coming to Kolbe Cathedral in 1999, Kobasa had taught for years at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in New Britain - in a flag-free classroom. "It was never an issue."

He said the support he received from the students was "quite remarkable." He said they spontaneously made posters decrying his termination and were chanting his name in the halls.

"There was all sorts of pageantry," Kobasa said. "It's not something that happens often in that school.

"I taught up to the end, I guess I can say," Kobasa said. "It was my last lesson. For the ones to whom this matters, they'll remember this."

http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-flagfiring1015.artoct15,0,7571331.story?coll=hc-headlines-local

[Sakib]

wot the fuck?///

[Dr. Blutarsky]

How exactly is the American Flag offensive?

[Evolution]

That's a pretty strange belief but oh well, to each his own

[SLCPUNK]

How exactly is the American Flag offensive?

He doesn't say it's offensive:

"The crucifix cancels all flags," said Kobasa, a longtime peace activist. "Christ speaks of compassion without boundaries. ...Flags are about separation, assertions of superiority and aggression. The whole notion that loyalty to country is connected to one's religious faith is totally bizarre and unjustified."

[sandman]

glad to see they got rid of this douche-bag. if you're gonna choose to teach at a private school, you have to follow their rules. he's just trying to be difficult.

if he's fine with hanging the flag for PART of the day, why's he so against having it up all day.

and what message would that send to children to see an authority figure waste time to take down the flag every day???

[Izzy]

Lol - u'd be laughed at (and probabaly viewed as a Nazi) if u displayed the flag over here

[Axls Locomotive]

so he doesnt have the choice of displaying the flag or not? what a surprise

i wonder if that still would be the case if most of the students in the class were foreign...

along with that stupid pledge of allegiance or whatever you call it, i find it most amusing...talk about early brainwashing

[SLCPUNK]

glad to see they got rid of this douche-bag. if you're gonna choose to teach at a private school, you have to follow their rules. he's just trying to be difficult.

You guys turn on anybody......

This guy taught for 25 yrs and with deep religous conviction...just your type of guy right? Or no? Only if he kept the flag up he wouldn't be a douche bag? And even though there wasn't a problem with it until this year.

He made very clear that his religion struck down any flag in his perspective. That it was not an attack on the American flag. It was a new rule, which he was never shown.

He kept the flag up for the pledge and then took it down. Pretty cut and dry. No disrespect towards the flag. In fact more of a deep respect for his religion in a Christian school.

[Sterlingdog]

I know I'm from the liberal state of California, and I should probably support this guy, but I just don't.  Its one thing to refuse to display a flag in your home, but a school?  It just feels wrong to me.

I would never let my child go to a religious school anyway.  But if any teacher she had refused to display the flag due to his religous beliefs, I'd have a big problem with that.  We don't all have to have the same religion, but anyone living in this country should support it.  I wouldn't want that man teaching my child. 

[Timothy]

This guy says he never seen the new diocesan policy in writen form .But he was damn sure heard about it . Then he geta fired. so what is the big fucking deal here. the same thing would happen to me .

[SLCPUNK]

Then he geta fired.

Who is typing for you? 

[Guns N RockMusic]

so he doesnt have the choice of displaying the flag or not? what a surprise

i wonder if that still would be the case if most of the students in the class were foreign...

along with that stupid pledge of allegiance or whatever you call it, i find it most amusing...talk about early brainwashing

And the "group I represent" is called offensive.  I am deeply bothered by that comment and that certainly isn't the open minded mentality the admins of this board advocate. Now let's wait and see if anything is done about it or if that rule only applies when someone offends liberal and anti-nationalist/patriotic beliefs.

[Timothy]

Then he geta fired.

Who is typing for you? 

Were the hell did you get a pic of him ?


I told that fucker to stay hidden. 

[SLCPUNK]

so he doesnt have the choice of displaying the flag or not? what a surprise

i wonder if that still would be the case if most of the students in the class were foreign...

along with that stupid pledge of allegiance or whatever you call it, i find it most amusing...talk about early brainwashing

And the "group I represent" is called offensive.  I am deeply bothered by that comment and that certainly isn't the open minded mentality the admins of this board advocate. Now let's wait and see if anything is done about it or if that rule only applies when someone offends liberal and anti-nationalist/patriotic beliefs.

Which comment?

[sandman]

glad to see they got rid of this douche-bag. if you're gonna choose to teach at a private school, you have to follow their rules. he's just trying to be difficult.

You guys turn on anybody......

This guy taught for 25 yrs and with deep religous conviction...just your type of guy right? Or no? Only if he kept the flag up he wouldn't be a douche bag? And even though there wasn't a problem with it until this year.

He made very clear that his religion struck down any flag in his perspective. That it was not an attack on the American flag. It was a new rule, which he was never shown.

He kept the flag up for the pledge and then took it down. Pretty cut and dry. No disrespect towards the flag. In fact more of a deep respect for his religion in a Christian school.

he worked there for 25 years, therefore he should know better than anyone that there are rules to follow.

it's not a big deal....just hang the fucking flag. and the fact that he's willing to do it for PART of the day makes him a total hypocrite.

[SLCPUNK]

it's not a big deal....just hang the fucking flag. and the fact that he's willing to do it for PART of the day makes him a total hypocrite.

Not really. I think it makes him respectful towards the people that honor the flag.

On the other hand you could say "It's just a flag, and he feels that the cross erases all flags. So therefore, no big deal, just take it down the rest of the day."

[pilferk]

Couple of things:

1) He didn't teach at Kolbe for 25 years. ?He came there in '99. ?He taught at St. Thomas' in New Britain for something like 15 years, and had taught at a different perochial school prior to that. ?He's been teaching, TOTAL, for 25 years in parochial schools.

2) ?Like it or not, the dismissal was justified. ?It's a private school. ?As a teacher, you have to obey the schools rules. ?He claims not to have seen the rule in writing, but it was distributed as part of a "packet" both to the teachers and their union before the begining of the school year (so they said to the local news, anyway). ?If they said that you had to display a purple dinosaur strapped to a rocket, you'd have to do it, so long as they notified all parties it was going to be required.

3) Parents and students, alike, are having a small conniption about his dismissal (again, the local news). ?They're actually the ones who brought the story to the local media. Kobasa just wanted to walk away. I doubt he'll be reinstated, but I also wonder how "costly" this will end up being to Kolbe's enrollment. ?

4) In an interview last night he said he's already had calls offering him employment from around the state. The guy will land squarly on his feet, I suspect, and will be able to maintain his scruples at the same time.

5) He isn't "against the flag".? He's against hanging the flag in the classroom where the crucifix is already hung (Quick question..I don't remember from my younger days...Do they hang American Flags inside Catholic Churches?) .? It's been a bit more well documented locally around here.? He was willing to COMPROMISE and allow anyone so inclined to have their moment, each morning, to Pledge Allegiance (he wouldn't do so, though).? He'd raise and lower the flag for those people.? But he felt having the flag was a conflicting "symbol" "competing" with the crucifix and Christ in his classroom.

[Izzy]

I know I'm from the liberal state of California, and I should probably support this guy, but I just don't.? Its one thing to refuse to display a flag in your home, but a school?? It just feels wrong to me.

I would never let my child go to a religious school anyway.? But if any teacher she had refused to display the flag due to his religous beliefs, I'd have a big problem with that.? We don't all have to have the same religion, but anyone living in this country should support it.? I wouldn't want that man teaching my child. 

 

Hilarious. Not displaying a flag -  a piece of fucking cloth! - would make him unfit to teach ur child! God forbid - he might grew up and be able to question values you had forced on you. Democracy indeed.

[gilld1]

There is a nation wide epidemic of teachers sleeping with students,  low grad rates, gangs, drugs/alcohol, and so many more problems and this school is worried about a damn flag?  Must be nice living in paradise!