Remember the days when it used to be standard practice to display a photo of the President of the United States in American classrooms? Apparently, there are some people who don't think that's a good idea anymore. Did this end tradition end with Nixon?

UNDER PREZ-SURE

The controversy erupted Thursday night when a handful of parents objected to the photo during a back-to-school parent-teacher conference. Pillai-Diaz said three parents demanded the photo be removed — or complemented with a picture of Sen. John Kerry. Pillai-Diaz said she notified the assistant principal, Mark Daniels, of the brouhaha during a break in the conference and that Daniels defended her right to post the photo.

But yesterday, Pillai-Diaz said Daniels changed his tune and demanded she remove it before her first class.

"He told me that if I care about my employment at the school, I would take down the picture," she said.

When she refused, the matter was taken up by the principal, Jim Warfel, who Pillai-Diaz said accused her of "causing disruption and hatred" with her "inflammatory politics" and told her to "get out" of the building.