Teacher may face criminal charges in flag burning
By SANDY LOUEY
Scripps-McClatchy Western Service
October 12, 2001SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The Sacramento County District Attorney's Office is considering whether to file criminal charges against a North Avenue Elementary School teacher accused of burning a portion of the U.S. flag in his classroom.
The Sacramento Fire Department turned the case over to the District Attorney's Office on Thursday, said Capt. Dave Whitt, a fire department spokesman.
"We did a thorough and complete investigation," Whitt said Friday.
Whitt declined to provide details about investigators' findings in last month's flag-burning incident in Del Paso Heights Elementary School District.
The District Attorney's Office will determine what charges, if any, will be filed against the teacher, said Don Steed, a supervising attorney in the consolidated intake division.
"It's under review," he said.
Kory Grant Clift, 25, used a lighter on a corner of the classroom flag on Sept. 12, the day after terrorist attacks hit the East Coast, said North Avenue Interim Principal Steve Skiffington.
The district's initial press release indicated the incident occurred Sept. 18, but Skiffington said that was the day that school and district officials learned of the incident and immediately placed Clift on paid administrative leave.
Clift allegedly made statements such as "I can't burn it all 'cause that's illegal" and "Babylon is burning." He also called the United States the "United Snakes," district officials said.
Through a statement read by a friend, Clift has apologized for the attention that his "revolutionary" teaching method had brought to the district.
Neither he nor his attorney could be reached for comment Friday.
Clift was given written notice on Oct. 5 about the disciplinary action the district plans to take against him.
District officials have declined to reveal publicly what that action is, but the section of the state education code the district is following in this matter is used to suspend or dismiss a second-year probationary employee. Clift is in his second year as a teacher in the Del Paso district.
Clift had told his students not to tell anyone about the flag-burning incident, not even their parents - something that created a wedge in the trust that children and their parents share, Skiffington said.
Even if Clift is allowed to teach in the district, Skiffington said, he has told Clift's students their former teacher would not be at North Avenue.
That was needed, Skiffington said, so the students, who have gone through counseling in the aftermath of the incident, would not have false hope about their teacher's future on the campus.
"We need to move on," he said.
(Contact Sandy Louey of the Sacramento Bee in California at slouey(at)sacbee.com.)