"What they did to cover themselves - to save face for themselves - is paint me as a zealot to try to clean up their reputation," the Monmouth County teacher told Siegel. "And to do that, they decided to smear me."

Pillai-Diaz said the district's statement has now poisoned the atmosphere at the Crossroads South Middle School in Monmouth Junction, where she taught English until a week ago. "I was willing to go back into the classroom, but when I read the press release I didn't see how it was possible for me to have a healthy professional climate and focus on my teaching," she said.

The release, signed by Superintendent Gary McCartney and posted on the South Brunswick, N.J., Public Schools Web site, echoes complaints from students and parents that "Ms. Pillai-Diaz was using her position, classroom and teaching time to engage in partisan politics."

It also challenges her assertion that she was ordered to leave school property a week ago Friday after she refused to remove the picture of Bush, whose photo, McCartney claimed, is openly displayed in offices throughout the district.

But Pillai-Diaz denied she showed any partisanship in front of her students, saying in an interview last week, "I don't discuss politics [in my classroom]. I wouldn't go near it with a ten-foot pole."

While she has accepted an offer from district officials for reassignment to another school, she still feels wronged by their actions.

"If what they say in that press release is true," Pillai-Diaz told Siegel, "why would they even want me still teaching for them?"

Editor's note: