By Isaiah Heinz, Delia Aguilar, Taliyah Cooper & Jaden Butler
After a three-day absence following a dispute over a Palestinian flag in her classroom, math teacher Kayla Thompson returned to Riverside on Tuesday, April 2.
On Sunday, March 17, Thompson was named Pirate Hero of the Month. Riverside posted a photo of her posing with the award in front of a Palestinian flag on Facebook and Instagram. Shortly after, the comments on the post were filled with people criticizing the flag.
The social media posts were deleted, and on Tuesday during first period, RHS administrators asked Thompson to remove the flag. She took the flag down, then left campus and didn’t return until after spring break. Later that day, Thompson’s third period students recreated the flag with dry erase markers on the board.
Approximately thirty concerned students walked out of their first period class on Friday, March 22 protesting in support of Thompson.
Thompson returned after spring break and taught her classes on Tuesday, April 2, then missed the rest of the week due to an unrelated, scheduled surgery.
Thompson declined an April 2 interview with The Pirates’ Hook but intends to answer questions when she returns to school in May. Members of Riverside’s administration also declined an interview.
The Palestinian flag that students drew on her whiteboard remains in place. And many of her students have spoken out about the situation.
“I don’t like the controversy caused by her taking a picture in front of the Palestine flag,” one student in Thompson’s class, who asked to remain anonymous, said in Arabic. “She didn’t do anything but be a great teacher.”
“When she won the Teacher of the Month award and took the picture before the flag, I was unaware that it would be controversial,” another student, who also asked to remain anonymous, said in Tigrinya. “I thought she was allowed to. I believe that the treatment she received was unnecessary and not deserved.”
