Seal Beach school principal draws fire for Facebook post over controversial Nike ad

Along with thousands of other people around the country expressing similar viewpoints, Roni Burns-Ellis turned to Facebook Tuesday, Sept. 4, to condemn Nike for featuring controversial quarterback Colin Kaepernick in an ad.

But as principal of McGaugh Elementary in Seal Beach, Burns-Ellis drew her own controversy.

Above her photo of a Nike T-shirt cut into pieces, Burns-Ellis wrote on her personal Facebook page: “My newest rag! When Nike signs an anti-American thug to represent their brand, I will not support, wear, purchase or endorse their product.”

By Wednesday afternoon, more than 200 people had signed a petition on Change.org demanding Los Alamitos Unified School leaders “act civilly.”

“As our country has become divided and name calling and hate have become normalized, we were particularly disheartened by her comment on Facebook,” the petition reads.

Burns-Ellis did not return calls to the school requesting a comment. The post has been removed.

Seal Beach resident Steve Miller, whose daughter attends McGaugh, said when he learned about the principal’s post he “walked straight to the school to confront her face-to-face.”

“I was outraged,” said Miller, a real estate agent. “She wasn’t there, which is probably good because I would have said the wrong things.”

Miller took offense at two words in particular, he said: “Thug is a racist comment. And to call someone un-American for peacefully protesting? Protesting is about as American as it gets.”

Kaepernick has come under fire – most famously, in tweets by President Donald Trump – for taking a knee during the national anthem at football games to protest police brutality against African Americans.

“Even if the principal doesn’t agree with the ad, she is in a public position paid for by taxpayers,” Miller said. “Leaders in charge of our children need to have higher standards.”

Other parents, however, support Burns-Ellis just as passionately.

“Nike is the one that’s in the wrong,” said Seal Beach homemaker Aimee Barber, who has two children at McGaugh. “She’s teaching our kids to respect the country we live in.”

When  Burns-Ellis joined McGaugh in 2016, said Cheryl Lemire of Seal Beach, she reinstated the daily recital of the Pledge of Allegiance – a tradition that had become sporadic. Last December, Burns-Ellis choreographed students dressed in red, white and blue to form the American flag for an overhead photograph.

“We have a large military population, with fathers and mothers deployed, and her patriotism shows appreciation for them,” said Lemire, a nurse with one child at McGaugh.

Suzy Hutton, a Seal Beach resident and retired teacher who worked in another district, said she worries that “if the principal feels safe posting something like that, it speaks volumes about the attitude of the whole district.”

But it doesn’t, Superintendent for Los Alamitos Unified Sherry Kropp said. “One person’s personal opinion on a personal Facebook page does not represent the values of our district.”

“We’ve worked really hard to be inclusive and we care about each and every one of our kids,” Kropp said. “What we don’t want, then, is somebody posting something that, right or wrong, undermines our great work.”

Kropp said the appropriate use of social media is “an ongoing conversation in the district.”

“What you post can reflect directly back to your profession and district,” Kropp said. “Word choice is important.”

Kropp called Burns-Ellis a “spectacular principal.”

“But by saying that, it doesn’t mean I don’t take the concerns of upset parents seriously,” she added. “I’m sick about it.”

Miller, who is active in the PTA, plans his own “peaceful protest.”

“At the next meeting,” Miller said, “I will be wearing Nike head-to-toe.”