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Anthony Ribeiro had logged in early to his remote chemistry class with Toms River High School North teacher Andrew Gilman on Oct. 8, he told Daily Voice.
That particular day, he decided to display a banner depicting President Trump’s '2020 Keep America Great!' slogan that he had received for his birthday earlier in the week, he said.
While he had gotten through his first several remote classes without any difficulty, things changed when the rest of the class had logged on.
“When [Gilman] was taking attendance, he said, ‘Anthony, take the flag down right now.’
"As class didn’t start yet, I was on my phone, so I kinda looked up and looked back down at my phone,” the honor student said.
Gilman then asked Ribeiro once again to remove the flag, adding, “There’s no place in my room for politics," the teen said. The third time, Gilman gave the student an ultimatum.
"He said, ‘If you’re not going to take it down, I’m going to have to ask you to leave the class,’ and I waved goodbye, and I left,” Ribeiro said.
The entire incident occurred within “maybe 20 seconds,” he said.
But there seemed to have been plenty of room for politics during previous lessons, when Gilman would comment to students about his own political beliefs.
“Before the incident even occurred, the school set up a 15-minute mental health awareness period for the start of class,” explained Ribeiro. “This chemistry teacher decided to talk about global warming and climate change.”
“After a certain point in the conversation after the first week, he brought in the politics to it: How Democrats look at facts, the science behind global warming, how Republicans deny it’s even a thing, and ‘that’s why democrats have my vote, and that’s why one day, when you’re able to vote, that’s why they should have yours too,’” said the student recalling his teacher’s speech.
As opposed to keeping the banner up as a clear way to show his support for the president, Ribeiro says his refusal had more to do with freedom of speech.
“It was for freedom of speech,” he said. “I had it up, I’m in my home — in the moment, in my eyes, he didn’t have the right to tell me to take a sign down in my own home.”
Ribeiro then talked about the incident to his mother, who says she was “totally, absolutely shocked.”
“I couldn’t believe that this teacher would do this to him,” Ribeiro’s mom, Tara Jost, told Daily Voice. “To me, it’s not about politics, even though it’s coming across that way. It’s more about taking something down in my home. I thought that was a violation; I felt like he almost came into my home and took something, that’s how I felt.”
But Gilman wasn’t the first teacher to make the request. The previous day, Ribeiro said he was asked by his English teacher to remove the banner as well — but this time, he decided to comply.
“My English teacher that saw the flag up the previous day asked me to take it down,” he said. “Being very cautious of my grades and not having the best grade in her class since it’s very difficult for me, I respected that she asked politely and not from a teacher to student perspective but person to person, so I took it down, but I put it right back up and I’ve had it up since.”
After hearing of the incident, Jost says she promptly reached out to the school and left a message that was returned by Assistant Principal Kevin Raylman, who said he agreed with her.
“They were in total agreement with me that the teacher was wrong,” said Jost. “I asked a question, if a student was to have a t-shirt on in the school, would the student be asked to leave for the day, and they said, ‘absolutely not…we’re in 100 percent agreement with you, he was wrong.’”
Despite admitting fault on Gilman’s behalf, Jost says the school hasn’t issued an apology due to policy.
“We would like an apology, and they’re saying it’s against policy to do that,” Jost said, referring to the district’s assistant superintendent, Cara DiMeo. “'Against policy.’ I’ve never heard of that before, but that’s what they’re saying.’”
In its official statement regarding the incident, the Toms River Regional School District said it is “handling the matter internally.”
“The student was not in violation of any general code of conduct or any policy specifically related to virtual learning,” read the statement. “We have worked with and are continuing to work with all involved parties to resolve the issue and move forward.”
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