School forces teacher to remove Colin Kaepernick poster following complaints

A Florida teacher was in tears after being forced to remove a large, hand-made poster of NFL player Colin Kaepernick she made for Black History Month after complaints that it was "offensive".

A clip of the Port Charlotte High School teacher, identified as Alissa Perry by The Hill,made its way online as she took down the poster after Kaepernick himself shared the video with his 2.13million followers.

It was reportedly first shared by one of her students. The tweet read:

once again, racism being justified . one of the teachers at our school put up a Colin Kaepernick door peice [sic] FOR black history month, and the school claimed it was 'offensive' and she was forced to take it down.

In the video, Perry can be heard saying: “Thank you all for participating in this.”

I’m going to go ahead and remove this.

Jaidyn Etheart, a student who shared the video, told WINK News that some boys put it on Snapchat and called it "offensive".

Charlotte County School District spokesperson Michael Riley told People that the school made the right decision, and that Kaepernick, who kneeled during the national anthem as a way to protest police brutality against African Americans, was a "controversial, decisive personality".

He added: "When the poster was put up, several students posted it to social media. This caused somewhat of a disruption at the school. Colin, whether he intended to by his kneeling protest, has become a very controversial, decisive personality."

If you recall, our president stated that he disrespected our nation and our flag, asking citizens to boycott the NFL and Nike. We also had an equal number in our nation who observed his actions as a silent, peaceful protest against unfair racial treatment.

The school received lots of complaints from parents, which is why they decided to remove the poster. Etheart disagreed with that conclusion, and remarked:

They [the school district] cracked under pressure. I don’t think that a few people’s opinion should be able to take away something that meant a lot to a lot of people.

A Charlotte County School board member called Cara Reynolds condemned the school’s actions. In a statement she wrote:

I would like to personally apologise to Ms Perry and the staff and students at Port Charlotte High School for the removal of her Black History Month door decoration. Our lack of a district policy on these issues failed Mr Perry and unnecessarily distracted from the learning experiences of Black History Month.

I am extremely disappointed in the way this situation was handled.

Others picked up on the video on social media and condemned the school's decision to remove the poster.

And students and teachers from other schools shared their own tributes to Kaepernick for Black History month.