Shirts with Trump slogan were 'like swastikas,' teacher said. Now she has resigned.
“Just like you can’t wear swastikas to school, you cannot wear ‘Make America Great Again.’”
That’s what Cherokee, Ga., math teacher Lyn Orletsky told two students in a video posted to Turning Point News when she asked them to leave her classroom in early September, the Cherokee Tribune and Ledger reported.
The two River Ridge High School students were wearing shirts with President Donald Trump’s campaign slogan “Make America Great Again.” She asked the students to “please go,” or at least turn their shirts inside-out if they were to remain in her class.
A video of the incident was first posted to Turning Point News on September 2 before gaining national media attention.
“I don’t care what you do in other classes,” she can be heard saying in the video, before another student asks, “Wait, so both of them have to flip their shirts inside out, because it’s got Trump on it?”
“Because it says ‘Make America Great Again,’” Orletsky responds. “The neo-Nazis — I’m not saying about Trump, but the slogan.”
In an interview with WSB-TV, Orletsky said she was concerned about the comfort of other students in the class, particularly after violent clashes between white supremacists and counter-protesters in Charlottesville, Va., left one woman dead.
“The whole ‘Make America Great Again’ slogan was really hijacked by a lot of hate groups,” Orletsky said in the interview with WSB-TV. “I explained to them, 'Support your president. That's great. It's fine to have a President Trump T-shirt,’" she said. "I never had any intentions of it being political at all. I care about my students and I want them to feel safe and comfortable.”
Cherokee County Schools spokeswoman Barbara Jacoby told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution the instructor was wrong to ask the students to leave and that the shirts did not violate the dress code in any way.
“Superintendent of Schools Brian V. Hightower is deeply sorry that this incident happened in one of our schools,” Jacoby told the paper. “It does not reflect his expectation that all students be treated equally and respectfully by our employees.”
Orletsky was placed on leave but was not dismissed, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported. Many demanded she be fired outright, and Georgia gubernatorial candidate Michael Williams even organized a protest outside the school gates demanding the school fire the “anti-Trump” teacher immediately.
“She must be fired and immediately. No other resolution is acceptable. Had this been about Hillary, ANTIFA would have already burned the school down,” Williams said in a statement. “Lyn Orletsky, and other liberal activist teachers, I’m putting you on notice: If you suppress free speech in the classroom, you will hear from me and many citizens until you are fired or resign.”
Although the school board never did fire Orletsky, she announced her resignation Tuesday, saying she had received death threats and was afraid for her safety, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
“After attacks on my character and threats on my life, I have made the decision to resign from my teaching position at River Ridge High School,” Orletsky said in a statement to the paper. “While in hindsight I would have handled the situation differently, the outcry over this incident has been disproportionate to the event itself.”
Williams, the politician who organized protests demanding Orletsky’s termination, “wishes the best for the teacher, and hopes she will think twice before comparing all Trump supporters to neo-Nazis in the future,” his communications strategist Seth Weathers wrote in a statement.
This story was originally published October 19, 2017 at 9:44 AM with the headline "Shirts with Trump slogan were 'like swastikas,' teacher said. Now she has resigned.."