AURORA, Colo. — At least 150 Overland High School students walked out of class Thursday to protest administrators’ decision to put a teacher on leave while they investigate remarks he made about President Bush during class, including that some people compare Bush to Adolf Hitler.

Cherry Creek School District administrators were investigating whether geography teacher Jay Bennish violated a policy requiring balancing viewpoints in the classroom, district spokeswoman Tustin Amole said.

Amole said Bennish was placed on administrative leave Wednesday to avoid further disruption at the school in this east Denver suburb.

She said the school had heard rumors about the protest, which included some students who objected to Bennish’s comments. Students were told to return to class, but she said no disciplinary action was taken.

“It was peaceful. The students yelled, but there was no fighting,” Amole said. “Most of them did return to class.”

Sophomore Sean Allen recorded about 20 minutes of Bennish’s class during a Feb. 1 discussion about Bush’s State of the Union speech and gave the recording to his father, who complained to the principal, Amole said.

“After listening to the tape, it’s evident the comments in the class were inappropriate. There were not adequate opportunities for opposing points of view,” she said.

A telephone number listed for Bennish, who has been teaching social studies and American history at Overland since 2000, had been disconnected.

No action has been taken against Bennish, Amole said. She said the investigation should be complete by late next week while officials continue to talk to students, parents and faculty members.

Amole said Bennish told school officials he had received threats as news of the allegations spread, but she did not speculate on what the threats were and who made them.

She said he was the subject of similar complaints a few years ago, but said that case was resolved after Bennish met with a parent and the school principal.

Allen stayed home from school Thursday to avoid any backlash, Amole said.

There are several questions that should be asked BEFORE the parents of the students who walked out should consider what to do about their children.

#1) Why was a Geography teacher discussing topics which would be considered Political Science?
#2) Does their child who walked out of school actually have a class taught by this POS?
#3) Are they the parents or do they allow their children to control the household?

If I had a kid and they walked out of school based on the suspension of this so-called teacher, they wouldn’t sit down for a year. And you can call me a savage for saying so. I was spanked when I screwed up as a child. And I turned out ok. I learned what I couldn’t get away with.

Now, the school system should give an incomplete day for their so-called exercise of their 1st Amendment rights. They must learn that their rights don’t come without a cost. The law states that they were to be in school. They chose to leave before the day was concluded, so in a sense they broke the law.

This man is using his bully pulpit to indoctrinate the children of that community to a “communist” frame of mind. All you have to do is listen to the tape and understand that he is a socialist. He put a bad political spin on capitalism and basically praised the Communist model.

Personally I’d like to see him and Ward Churchill publicly flogged. Each receiving 100 lashes per day for 100 days. Then deported to Venezuela.

I sent the following email to the Principal of the School:

Principal Frieler,

Today I both read a transcript and listened to the audio tape of Mr. Bennish’s rant and I am appalled that this is even a question. This man was to be teaching Geography from the information available but yet he was ranting on a subject matter that more resembled Political Science. On top of that, it was all about his personal political views which, to say the least, makes Howard Dean seem like a hard line Conservative.

You have a responsibility to the people of your community to offer an unbiased education to the children in your care. Employing this man in my opinion is neither unbiased or educational. It more resembles Communist indoctrination. You would be in a better position to terminate the employment of this individual and assign a supervisory level educator to explain what was incorrect about his teachings to address the damage created by this “person”. You will also give the nation a better view of your educational system by showing that teachers will not be allowed to bring their personal political opinions into the classroom.

I cannot communicate the level of outrage I feel over this. You need to deal with this. And the nation is watching.