JUST DAYS AFTER 911
Sixth Grade Teacher Burns American Flag in Class

There was a lot more to this story when it first broke in Sacramento, California in the after-match of the terrorist attacks on our country. Within hours of the first media reports about this incident, PDN phone lines lit up. Some were from angry parents and concerned citizens. One came from a Sacramento police officer who dropped a bombshell about the teacher in this report. Based on that call, the actions of this un-credentialed teacher in front of impressionable and already troubled children, had to be exposed.  The media seemed reluctant to dig into Kory Clift's checkered past. The School Board didn't want to talk about it either.  We had the facts from the source. Kory Clift, in addition to his attention grabbing unpatriotic act, had a criminal history children needed to be protected from.  Flag Burner Clift had been charged with the attempted murder of a Sacramento Police Officer and had been arrested for similar violent offences in another Northern California jurisdiction.

"I knew getting the truth out would be an uphill battle with local media" said Dave Jenest, PDN's Webmaster. I turned to the one person in Sacramento who would fact check and break the story: Mark Williams talk show host of KFBK's Night Talk Live."

From the War Room to the Home Front...
Mark Williams, following our lead, exposed Kory Clift for what he is!
An Un-American, anti-authoritarian anarchist and want-to-be cop killer

Mark William - KFBK Sacramento (50,000 watt clear channel) Monday thru Friday 7-10 PMCall in Numbers (800) 834-1530 California Toll Free (916) 921-1530   
Dial * or # 1530 from your cell phone
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(09-29) 13:14 PDT SACRAMENTO (AP) --

A Sacramento sixth-grade teacher who allegedly burned a U.S. flag in his classroom was on probation for a 1998 run-in with a Sacramento policeman. (PDN NOTE: Clift was booked on charges of Attempted Murder of a police officer)

Del Paso Heights Elementary School District officials said Kory Grant Clift set fire to a corner of the flag in his classroom one week after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the East Coast.

Clift, 25, has been on administrative leave since the classroom demonstration that he said was a "revolutionary" teaching method.

Clift pleaded no contest in Sacramento court in April 1999 to a misdemeanor count of using threats and violence to deter a Sacramento policeman from performing his duties. He was placed on three years of probation and ordered to perform 240 hours of community service.

A year earlier he served six days in jail after pleading no contest to resisting a police officer.

Prior to his most recent sentencing, Clift was praised by several of his professors at California State University, Sacramento, one of whom described Clift as "a young man committed to his principles ... unafraid" to stand up for his beliefs, "even if (he's) the only one standing."

Teacher Accused of Burning Flag in Front of Class is Fired

The teacher accused of burning an American flag in front of a sixth grade class has been fired.

Kory Clift was teaching at Del Paso Heights Elementary School when the incident occurred. It came to light when a student told his parents Clift burned part of the flag. According to the student, Clift commented, "Babylon is burning," then said "I can't burn the entire thing because it's illegal." The motive for the incident is unclear.

In a statement given to News10, Clift denied burning the flag. "I'm not a Muslim," he wrote. "I respect America and I believe in democracy. I did not burn our American flag. This has been taken completely out of context."

Clift was working on a temporary teaching certificate while he completed his credential requirements. He said he plans to appeal the firing. Source: KXTV-10 News

By SANDY LOUEY
Scripps-McClatchy Western Service
October 12, 2001

SACRAMENTO, 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.

PDN pledges to keep a watch eye on Mr. Clift's future teaching plans. "We will do what we can to insure this individual never sets foot in a classroom again."