American Flag Removed from BOE Bulletin Board After Complaint

A borough school board official on Thursday asked Haddonfield Patch to stop using a file photo of a bulletin board at the superintendent’s office because it included a small American flag in the case, a flag that was removed after he received a complaint, he said.

Board Administrator Andrew Hall said he removed the flag “immediately” after receiving a complaint when someone saw it in a Haddonfield Patch article.

“After one of your articles someone complained about the flag in the case and we had it removed immediately,” Hall wrote in an e-mail.

Hall said he made the decision to remove the flag on his own. Board President Steve Weinstein and Superintendent Richard Perry seemed surprised when asked about it after a board meeting Thursday. 

They looked at one another and then looked at Hall. Hall then opened his laptop computer and pulled up the Haddonfield Patch site. He pointed to a stock photo showing a 3-by-2-inch, window-decal type American flag thumbtacked in the glass case.

Perry said there was no board decision made regarding the flag and "we don't even know why it was in there." Hall said, "It was put in there 25 years ago."

Weinstein had little comment except to say that the board was not involved in a decision.

When asked if the complaint involved how the flag was displayed, possibly for patriotic reasons, Hall said he didn't think that was it. He described it as a small flag that can be seen in a Patch photo at the board of education office on Lincoln Avenue. 

Shortly after Patch started using the photo of the board of education bulletin board, Hall said he received a comment from someone he doesn't know who suggested the flag was not appropriate in the case. So, he removed it.

“Someone complained and felt that it was inappropriate in that setting,” Hall said.