Bradley Johnson has been a mathematics teacher in California’s Poway Unified School District for decades. And for much of that time, he has prominently displayed patriotic and faith-themed banners in his classrooms — a move that has drawn intense criticism and removal mandates from school officials.

The banners, which touted messages like “In God We Trust,“ ”God Bless America,“ and ”God Shed His Grace on Thee,” were ordered taken down by a school principal back in 2007 when Johnson transferred to a new high school. But for years, the AP calculus teacher says that nobody saw any problem with them:

“Nobody thought there was anything wrong with them. Administrators, superintendents, school board people who had been in my room.”