A 17-year-old from Toms River High School North was asked to either remove the Trump flag behind him while attending a virtual class or simply quit the session. Anthony Ribeiro had received the flag as a birthday present, and being a supporter of President Trump, he put it up across a wall in his room.
On October 8th, during the last class of the day, his chemistry teacher asked Ribero to take the flag down as “there is no room for politics” in his class.
“I was the first in because I make sure I am on time but he looked up at the screen, didn’t say anything and as people came in, he took attendance and then said ‘Anthony take the flag down right now,’” the student said.
Ribero apparently had to keep his mic on mute, as it was a prerequisite as stated by the school; so did not reply to his chemistry teacher’s initial demand. That was when his teacher said that he will “have to get out of this class” if he wouldn’t take the flag down.
Ironically, the very same teacher apparently brought up politics during a class back in early September. The teacher apparently said that “Republicans don’t believe in climate change or global warming and Joe Biden and the Democrats are the people that will put light on what the science is to global warming.”
Based on what Ribeiro says, it was revealed that several of his classmates expressed disbelief at the fact that a teacher who discusses politics says that there’s “no room for it” in his class. All because Ribeiro put up a Trump flag.
The 17-year-old’s mother, Tara Jost, did not have any of it. She reached out to the principal and school superintendent and pointed out the fact that the Chemistry teacher has “no right to do in telling them who to vote for.”
“I said how dare he tell my son to leave his classroom because of something I have in my home?” Jost said.
Related: Tacoma teacher caught punishing student for admiring President Trump
