ST. LOUIS COUNTY, MO — A Parkway South High School substitute teacher, Jim Furkin, says he was fired in October after thanking some students for saying the Pledge of Allegiance, the Post-Dispatch reports. Furkin told the Parkway School Board his side of the story Wednesday night, wondering aloud if the student was a liar.
Furkin said that before last month he had taught as a substitute at the school for about a decade. “I’m requested just about every day. I work down at South High just about every single day. Teachers have a big propensity to ask for me and the kids like me.”
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Furkin noted that the school board meeting began with the Pledge of Allegiance, but said he seldom saw that level of participation in the classroom.
“About a month ago, freshman kids were in there, and we said the Pledge of Allegiance, as was requested on the loudspeaker,” Furkin continued. “And at the end, I thanked the class for all those that participated for saying the Pledge of Allegiance. And I also said I’m sure those families of lost loved ones — so that we could enjoy the freedoms that we have — would appreciate that effort.”
After Furkin made his comments, one of the kids asked to see the school’s counselor, and two days later — according to Furkin — he was asked to leave the building and never come back.
The former substitute teacher said he was confused at how thanking kids for saying the Pledge of Allegiance could be construed as bullying, which was the reason he was told for being let go.
“It’s kind of like saying, ‘Ms. Davis, I like your hair tonight.’ But if I don’t say the same thing to Ms. Hopper, she gets offended,” Furkin said.
The Supreme Court has ruled that the Pledge of Allegiance in the classroom is voluntary, and many different groups object to saying it, including secular students or atheists who object to the phrase “under God” — added in the 1950s in response to the rise of communism — as well as members of minority religious groups, including some Christian denominations like Jehovah’s Witnesses. Others have stopped saying the Pledge to protest police brutality — akin to some NFL players kneeling during the national anthem before football games.
Interestingly, the Pledge of Allegiance was originally written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy, a Christian minister and early labor activist, who believed that Jesus was a socialist.
According to Psychology Today, many kids report feeling bullied about the Pledge of Allegiance, but Furkin said that wasn’t his intent.
“I don’t know how we, as adults in the classroom, can understand how a child is going to perceive a comment,” Furkin continued. “You know, we can’t bat a hundred percent. Did [the student] embellish the situation? Is he a liar? Did adults put words in his mouth? I mean, I really don’t know, but all I did was thank that class for saying the Pledge of Allegiance, and now I’m told not to come back in the building anymore.”
He asked the board to investigate his dismissal. School Board President Jeff Todd said the board would communicate with Furkin “in a letter form in the near future.”
Watch the school board meeting here.