“Showing respect for our nation’s flag is an important value that we instill in our students and an expectation of our employees.” “We assure you that we take matters like this seriously,” the district said in a statement. The Newport-Mesa Unified School District said it became aware of the video teacher Kristen Pitzen shared from her classroom at Back Bay High School on Friday and has since launched an investigation. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.Ī Costa Mesa teacher has been removed from the classroom after posting a widely shared TikTok video about taking down the American flag and telling students they could pledge allegiance to a gay pride flag hanging in the room instead. This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated.