Tennessee school board says no plans to stop flying Christian flag at meetings in spite of complaints

Officials with the Unicoi County Board of Education in Tennessee said this week that they had no plans to remove a Christian flag from board meetings.

In a recent letter to Director of Schools John English, the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) noted that the board had displayed the Christian flag at every meeting since 2014.

"The Christian flag being displayed during public school board meetings unabashedly creates the perception of government endorsement of Christianity," FFRF Staff Attorney Rebecca Markert explained. "The display of this Christian flag is a brazen affront to the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution.

Unicoi County Board of Education chairman Tyler Engle told WJHL on Tuesday that the county was not taking immediate action to remove the flag from meetings.

“I’m unsure as to how long the flag has been displayed here, you know its not something that is intentionally brought out at every meeting, it is here in the room even when the board doesn’t meet,” Engle remarked.

“Our attorney is carefully reviewing the constitutional precedent and the constitutional law as well as the case law that is cited in the letter," he added. "The board is not planning to take immediate action."

Watch a video report from WJHL below.