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SACRAMENTO — A teacher who burned a flag in front of sixth graders days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has been fired, Del Paso Heights school district authorities said. 

“He’s no longer on the payroll,” said Superintendent Carl Mack Jr. 

Officials placed teacher Kory Grant Clift, 25, on paid administrative leave Sept. 18 after they said he partially burned a flag and referred to the nation as the “United Snakes.” In October the district gave him a 30-day notice of termination. 

Clift is appealing his firing, but no hearing has been set. 

The teacher called it an example of “revolutionary teaching.” Clift, a second-year uncredentialed teacher, reportedly told his 30 students, “I can’t burn it all because that’s illegal.” He also told the students, “Babylon is burning,” according to the district. 

Clift later apologized for the flag burning, and said it remains his goal to teach. 

The U.S. Supreme Court has often ruled that flag burning is protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. 

But Mack said he dismissed Clift for more than flag burning. Earlier this year Mack put Clift on administrative leave after he placed a child in a closet for disciplinary reasons. 

“It wasn’t based on just one incident,” Mack said. 

The Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office declined to file criminal charges over the flag incident “because the students and the school were not placed at significant risk,” said supervising attorney Don Steed.