NORMAL - Unit 5 will review how First Amendment lessons are taught in the wake of reports that a Normal Community High School teacher damaged a U.S. flag in class last week.

Teacher Latishia Baker regrets using the flag that way and apologizes for the negative and counterproductive impact of the lesson, Superintendent Alan Chapman said in an e-mailed statement issued Monday on the matter.

"Were we disappointed in the way this matter played out? Yes. There are dozens of other ways a teacher could teach that lesson without defacing a flag," said Scott Lay, Unit 5 school board president.

"But do we think it was malicious? No. It was a teacher exercising poor judgment," he said.

The flag will be delivered to the American Legion so it can be respectfully disposed of, said Jeanette Nuckolls, NCHS principal.

Baker will reimburse the district for the cost of the flag's replacement, said Chapman.

Students at the school said Baker dragged the American flag across the floor during her first-period class Thursday, then sprayed the flag with water and stomped on it. She also colored in four of the flag's 50 stars.

Her actions drew criticism from some of Baker's students and veterans' groups in the Twin Cities.

Clayton James, a U.S. Army veteran who heads the Fifty American Flags Living Memorial and the McLean County branch of the Veterans Assistance Commission, said Monday he was satisfied with the district's handling of the situation and happy to hear Baker had apologized.

"I don't think she needs to be dismissed, like some people were calling for," he said.

"I definitely think she used bad judgment, though," he said.

Baker did not return calls from the Pantagraph.

Nuckolls said she discussed the matter with Baker, but declined to speak for Baker regarding the lesson.

The NCHS principal said she hopes such an incident doesn't occur again at the school.

"Miss Baker is an excellent teacher. I can say her intent was not to be disrespectful. She's teaching about the Constitution and the liberties that we have," said Nuckolls.

In Chapman's e-mail, he expanded on Baker's intent.

"The objective of the lesson was to examine symbolic speech and determine circumstances under which symbolic speech is protected. During the lesson, the United States flag was used in demonstrating behaviors protected by the United States Constitution.

"The demonstration resulted in damage to the flag. Arrangements have been made for the respectful destruction of the flag."

James said he was offended by Baker's actions especially because they happened in a classroom.

"As a teacher, she has an obligation to the community and the state to take care of the flag," he said.

"She could have taught about First Amendment rights and talked about how some people desecrate the flag. But what she did, that carried it one step too far," he said.